Three Reasons Why The Cavs Got A Blowout Win Over The Pistons
The Cleveland Cavaliers have struggled since the All-Star break accumulating a lot of losses that have looked like winnable games. This has allowed opposing teams such as the New York Knicks to catch up to them in the standings.
Thankfully, Cleveland was able to get back on track with a 114-90 blowout win over the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are among one of the worst teams in the NBA so the Cavs were expected to win this one, but this kind of victory can do great things for the team's morale.
These are some of the reasons the Cavs were able to secure the win:
Forced Turnovers
The Pistons had a difficult time securing the ball against one of the best defenses in the league and the Cavs did a fantastic job exploiting this. Cleveland forced 24 turnovers against Detroit which made it difficult for them to find any sort of rhythm.
These 24 turnovers by the Pistons also led to 28 points for the Cavs. Cleveland's success this season has always started with their defense and that's exactly what happened on Saturday night.
Sharing The Scoring
One criticism from myself and others in the Cavaliers' loss to the Celtics on Wednesday night was the lack of support that Donovan Mitchell received from the rest of the team. That wasn't the case against the Pistons though as the scoring was evenly distributed.
10 of the 12 players who got minutes for the Cavs were in the scoring column and five of them scored double figures. The scoring leaders were:
- Darius Garland - 21 points
- Donovan Mitchell - 20 points
- Evan Mobley - 16 points
- Jarrett Allen - 15 points
- Caris LeVert - 11 points
This balanced scoring led to the Cavaliers' largest lead to be 35 points at one point late in the game.
Third Quarter Success
It's ironic that the same quarter that cost the Cavs the game against the Celtics is the same quarter that was the reason they beat the Pistons.
Cleveland came out of halftime with a ton of energy and obliterated the Pistons in the third. The Cavs outscored the Pistons 42-22 in this quarter with DG leading the way with 10 of his own points.
The defense also helped out a lot in the third with Cleveland getting seven of their season-high 14 steals in the quarter alone.
This was a great win for the Cavs but next week will be their real test as they see the Celtics again on Wednesday night.
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