LeBron-less Cleveland Cavaliers visit the undefeated Detroit Pistons

The undefeated Detroit Pistons look to remain perfect as the win-less Cleveland Cavaliers visit Little Caesar’s arena. 

The Detroit Pistons are flying high right now.

Detroit will look to make it four straight to open the season fresh off a dominant performance in which Blake Griffin recorded 50 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and one block.

It is still early in the season but these Pistons look ready and determined to make some noise in the NBA this year despite pessimism from the national media.

Perhaps the biggest surprise so far is the team’s resilience. Each game has come down to the wire and the Pistons have been able to withstand the pressure.

There are certainly areas to work on, particularly interior defense. However, the wins are there and that is the important thing.

Led by all-star Kevin Love, the 0-4 Cavaliers have looked as expected this year.

After losing LeBron James in free agency, the Cavaliers already poor defense has become even worse. They rank 26th in the league in opponents points per game (120.5).

Cleveland is also allowing opponents to shoot 43 percent from the three-point line. Pistons head coach Dwayne Casey has emphasized three-point shooting this year, so expect them to come out firing from distance.

This could be a trap game for the Pistons despite the Cavaliers being a poor team. Detroit has won all of their games by less than three points. Those wins have come against lower-tier Eastern Conference teams and a playoff team without its best player.

They should not take this game lightly.

Players to watch

A couple other Detroit Pistons players have quietly had solid seasons so far in addition to Griffin’s phenomenal start to the season.

Point guard Ish Smith has been arguably the next best player on the team. While Griffin received much of the praise for the Sixers game, Smith put together a masterful performance.

He used his blazing speed to quicken the offensive tempo, slicing through the defense and got easy layups in transition. He has played well enough that some have been suggesting that he should start at point guard over Reggie Jackson.

Another player to watch will be center Andre Drummond. He will be looking for redemption after his match-up against Sixers big man Joel Embiid. Even though it could be considered by many as a bad game, Drummond still registered 14 points and 16 rebounds.

Embiid and Drummond went back and forth all night, but Embiid won the battle by scoring 33, grabbing 11 rebounds and handing out seven assists. Throughout the game, he baited Drummond into several fouls but clearly flopped in what would be Drummond’s sixth and final foul.

The Embiid vs. Drummond match-up will be one to watch in the remaining games this season. Expect Drummond to be highly motivated against the Cavaliers tonight.

Opponents to watch

With LeBron James gone, Kevin Love is now the go-to player for the Cavaliers.

Love is getting 19 points per game but doing it on only 32 percent shooting. He is grabbing 13.5 rebounds and dishing over three assists per game.

Turkish player Cedi Osman is enjoying increased playing time due to LeBron’s departure.  He is delivering with 14 points per game.

Not may other players are making a huge impact outside of Love and Osman.

The schedule has been favorable for the Pistons so far. They still have quite a bit of work to do to prove that they are a team that should be taken seriously.

A win against Cleveland to start 4-0 will give the Detroit Pistons some momentum heading into back-to-back games against the Boston Celtics.