Pistons vs. Cavaliers Tactical Breakdown: 3 Ways Detroit Can Beat Cleveland

There's a few things the Detroit Pistons can do in their upcoming playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers to make it less of a struggle than the Orlando Magic first round series.

Mar 3, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden (1) throws a pass beside Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) in the fourth quarter at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

The No. 1 seed Detroit Pistons had to squeak by the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic in the form of a 3-1 first round series come back. Now that it's over, it's a relief just to be in the next round.

Luckily for the Pistons, their No. 4 seed opponent, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are also jumping right into another playoff series after a seven-game series. Their last series revealed flaws that have existed all season. It was only a matter of time before a stage like the postseason brought those flaws to light.

It's important to note that the Magic were without Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner for large chunks of the season, which affected their regular season record and eventual postseason seeding. Detroit still had an obligation and an expectation of handling business, which they wouldn't do until the seventh game of the series. Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff has the task of clearly identifying those flaws before their quick turnaround into their next series this Tuesday night.

Put shooters on the court

The Pistons were extremely lucky to be matched up against a philosophically and schematically similar team like the Orlando Magic. While Cleveland has the personnel to dominate inside the paint, like Detroit and Orlando does, Detroit needs to prepare, offensively and defensively, for explosive perimeter offense from Cleveland's star guards.

Ausar Thompson and Cade Cunningham are two of the NBA's most elite perimeter defenders. Bickerstaff should be more concerned with how his team is going to be able to match Cleveland's offensive scoring output. Detroit is easily the worst three-point shooting team left in the postseason.

Tobias Harris, Caris LeVert, Javonte Green, and Daniss Jenkins all shot below 30% from deep in their first round series against Orlando. Harris is too versatile and productive to leave off the court, but the others need to step it up in order to justify players like Kevin Huerter and Marcus Sasser sitting on the bench for most of the postseason.

In his limited minutes this regular season, Sasser shot almost 42% from deep. Huerter is the kind of experienced sharpshooter and secondary playmaker Detroit needs at this stage of the playoffs.

If Detroit wants the best chance at matching Cleveland's explosiveness on the perimeter, Bickerstaff has to maximize his roster's potential by putting as many of his best offensive weapons on the court.

Get creative with Jalen Duren

Jalen Duren is not going to morph into the offensive Swiss army knife Rasheed Wallace or Blake Griffin was for the Pistons overnight. He faces another extremely tough matchup against Cleveland's towering front court of 2025 defensive player of the year Evan Mobley and center Jarrett Allen.

Duren hovering on the low block or rolling into the basket to farm alley-oop attempts is not going to cut it against this Cleveland defense. Duren talked about Orlando's double teams on the baseline being an overwhelming thing to deal with, but Mobley and Allen are going to be much more relentless.

Duren's lack of comfortability as a jump shooter makes spacing for Detroit's guards more difficult and it keeps Cleveland's bigs closer to the rim, exactly where Cleveland wants them.

Finding creative ways to use Duren as a screener is going to be crucial in this series. Allowing Mobley to roam while Allen anchors the paint is a nightmare for a dominant paint scoring team like Detroit. Bickerstaff needs to figure out how to create mismatches for Duren while keeping Cleveland's rim protectors far away from the rim.

Using Duren as a "Gortat" screener so that he is the one actively creating space for Detroit's best slashers, playmaking from the free throw or three-point line in order to drag Cleveland's bigs out of the paint, setting off-ball screens for the other big playing alongside Duren to distort Mobley and Allen's defensive plans, are a few different ways Detroit can use Duren as an offensive weapon who isn't dependent on Cade Cunningham to create offense.

Everyone crashes

Detroit overwhelmed Orlando on the boards in their three consecutive victories against Orlando, and they have can't afford to let up on that end. Isaiah Stewart, Duren, and Paul Reed will have the expectation of boxing out and crashing boards.

Winning the second-chance points battle against a team like Cleveland can decide who wins the series. If Mobley and Allen are out of the paint contesting jumpers, it will be crucial for the Pistons backcourt to crash the glass instead of watch the ball.