Recap: Detroit 110, Cavs 103 (Or, Enough Too Late)

In 2003, the great deceased American Rap-Rock singer of Lincoln Park, Chester Bennington, sang in a chorus, “I tried so hard and got so far/but in the end, it doesn’t even matter/ I had to fall, to lose it all/ but in the end, it doesn’t even matter.” I’m bringing up this song for a variety of reasons.

For one, most people know this song and have secretly enjoyed it, especially people under the age of 30. It should bring back some good memories. Secondly, this song relates perfectly to the Cavs fourth quarter tonight.

The Cavs managed to put up a great fight and got as close as six after being down 12 in the final twelve. Collin Sexton contributed 10 points and two steals. He had a great sequence where he canned a long mid-ranger after denying a Larry Nance screen, then grabbed a steal off a Blake Griffin pass, and then finished another mid-ranger. He finished the night with 14 points and five assists. Kyle Korver, Mr. Fourth Korver, had an explosive outing in the final frame going 6-7 from the floor for 16 points, including a four-point play. He finished with 21 on 7-10 shooting. Even with those two popping off, the Pistons had an answer for everything they did. When the Cavs got within 10, Griffin hit a 3. When they got within eight, Drummond rocked the rim. When they got within seven, Reggie Jackson dropped a long ball.

Yes, as the song says the Cavs “got so far” at times in their comeback attempt, I thought they had a chance. But, as we know, “in the end, it [didn’t] even matter.” And, as we also know, the Cavs had to fall to lose it all; and unless they have a tie breaker with the Pistons to get into the playoffs at the end of the season, it won’t even matter.

Lastly, this song is from the same year as a Cavs team we all hope the current one can emulate. That was LeBron’s first year in the league and the Cavs won just 35 games. They finished outside of the playoffs, but they had the seeds for a great run in the coming years. Is Collin Sexton the next LeBron? No, but it’s early and he showed some gamesmanship tonight battling back in the fourth. Is Jordan Clarkson the next Ricky Davis? Well, he does think he’s the best player on the team and gets oddly hot at times.

Anyways, let’s get to the game. The Pistons were able to take out the Cavs behind the efforts of Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond. Both of them put up 26 points a pop, while Griffin grabbed ten boards and Drummond grabbed 22. The Cavs had a more balanced attack. While Korver and Sexton certainly helped out late, George Hill was big early on and finished the night with 15 points, and Jordan Clarkson kept the Cavs just hanging around not-totally-being-blown-out territory going 8-12 for 18 points.

In the first quarter, the Cavs showed an interesting defensive scheme where they doubled Griffin and then pinged around to cover up whatever pass was made. It was haphazard, but it worked. They held the Pistons to 42.3% shooting. And, despite the Pistons getting six offensive boards, everybody helped each other out and not one of those offensive boards was put back into the basket. The Pistons ran very few pick and rolls and looked to Griffin to just create solo.

George Hill led the way for the good guys. He was aggressive and got himself six points all at the rim.

And, the rest of the Cavs made sure to just run the floor, which resulted in easy buckets. When Jordan Clarkson checked in, he chipped in two 3s off of two Larry Nance dimes. Those will be discussed later this week though. The Cavs had a miscue at the end of the quarter and Ish Smith drained a 3 to put the Pistons up, 30-27.

The second quarter is where the Cavs started to come undone. Early, things were going fine. Nance hit Korver in the corner for a 3-pointer off a roll and then nailed a put-back off a wacky Sexton miss to put the Cavs up 34-32. Slowly, but surely, the Cavs offense and defense just sort of stopped working. After running the floor, and driving hard to the rim, the Cavs just gave up. It became a one pass and chuck it offense. Hood was especially guilty of chucking.

Then the Pistons started running pick and rolls and smaller guys kept getting switched onto Andre Drummond. Drummond had ten points all at the rim. He had back to back slams and was just sealing early for easy baskets. After a Blake Griffin 3-pointer with 1:55 left, the Pistons went on a 10-2 run to enter the locker room ahead, 50-58.

Like most third quarters this year, the Cavs didn’t bring it hard enough. The Pistons continued their pick and roll onslaught, and they ran the floor relentlessly. They shot 50% from the floor. And, they had lots of opportunities to run because the Cavs managed to go just 8-25. Hood was in chuck it mode right from the start after making a mid-ranger to open the quarter. Check out this miss:

He just seems to have an aversion to getting all the way to the hoop. He can’t or won’t. Detroit played with the mindset of working constantly towards the hoop. Look how Reggie Jackson just works down hill as soon as he gets the ball. The damage could have been worse, but Clarkson hit a coast to coast layup off a steal and a jumper right at the end to send the Cavs into the fourth down 12. See above if you forgot about the fourth already.

Gripes

1. I want to keep this short. There’s lots of stuff I can complain about though. Tyronn Lue’s doubling defense worked early on because he played two bigs. The Pistons have two bigs out most of the time. Lue should have matched up down the stretch. In the fourth, he was playing just with Nance on the floor. It just resulted in too many mismatches after all the scrambling was done.

2. Here’s everything that was wrong with the offense. Look at these two shot charts.

The upper one is from the first quarter and this decade. The second one is from the third quarter and the early 2000s. Perhaps, they were trying to be like the 2003 Cavs. That would fit with what I discussed earlier. Either way, the shots need to be changed.

3. And, that can happen by guys just being smarter. Rodney Hood had ten points on 4-12 shooting. Five of those shots were mid-range jumpers. He made two, but they were ill-advised. A side note about Hood: He’s becoming a black hole. The man doesn’t pass. Tristan had six points and three boards tonight. He was awful. He took multiple shots after dribbling. He needs to know his roll.

4. Cedi Osman had a rough night. He tried to do the right things. He ran the floor and what not, but he was just off. He was sloppy on defense and his man got behind him too often. He had six boards, six fouls, and three points. J.R. was just 0-7. No big deal.

5. The Cavs 3-point woes continue. They made just eight.

6. George Hill had 12 in the first half and just three in the second. He needs to stay aggressive. The Cavs need a consistent hand guiding them.

Hypes

1. Sexton is growing on me. He really tries his butt off on defense. And, I’d venture to say, he’s decent at one-on-one defense. His fourth quarter sequence of shot, steal, shot, helped the Cavs immensely. He even showed he can blow by his man on occasion when he ripped by Ish Smith to start the fourth for a layup.

2. Larry Nance needs to play more. He went 5-8 for 11 points. His rolls to the rim are of the hardest variety. He makes contact on his screen and goes. There’s no standing around waiting to see what’s going on. He’s almost slipping the action, but it’s still disrupting the man guarding the ball.

3. And, Nance had five assists. Those five assists led to 12 points. He had touchdown passes, corner whips, and even hit a cutting Korver.

4. The defense limited Detroit to just 11 3s. That’s improvement. Griffin hit four of those 3s and they were all tough shots.

5. Speaking of defense, they had some marvelous sequences in the first. I’ll leave one of those as the last part of this recap, so you can walk away smiling. Look at the double they spring on Griffin.

6. The Cavs take on the Pacers Saturday.