1 stud and 1 dud for Cavaliers from win over Pistons on Sunday

Cavaliers stud: Free throw shooting

One could’ve gone with Donovan Mitchell (32 points) or Evan Mobley (20 points on eight-of-12 shooting, to go with 13 rebounds) here, but free throw shooting for the team overall was a driving force for Cleveland’s victory on Sunday.

There was realistically better ball movement than the assist total of 14 indicated for the Cavs, objectively. Either way, the Cavaliers were able to find ways to get to the free throw line to keep themselves within striking distance for most of the game, before making their push in the fourth quarter.

Cleveland hit 28 of 33 of their looks from the stripe, an 84.8 percent clip, and the backcourt was huge for the Wine and Gold in that realm. Mitchell himself was 12-of-13 from the stripe, and Darius Garland was 11-of-12, and those two were big down the stretch from there in helping the Cavaliers pull this out.

For Garland, he wasn’t able to connect from the field close to how he’s been of late, as he went just four-of-19, and zero-of-5 from three, but the free throws he knocked down were crucial here. The same went for him dishing out 10 assists.

As for the Pistons, they were just 14-of-26 (53.8 percent) from the stripe. So, ultimately, the free throw shooting from the Cavaliers was clutch here.