Rapid Reaction: Detroit Pistons 109 Cleveland Cavaliers 105

The Detroit Pistons were able to overcome yet another large second half deficit in tonight’s match up against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sparked by their bench down the stretch, the Pistons clawed their way back from 19 points down.

In a preseason where we knew that Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey would play a consistent game of “lineup roulette”, the combination that no one could have foreseen being effective won the game tonight.

Tim Frazier, Bruce Brown, Svi Mykhailiuk, Joe Johnson, and Thon Maker played out the final 3:36 of the fourth quarter after being down 9 points. The five of them initially played slightly out of sync, but were held in balance by Brown’s outstanding play on both ends of the floor. Johnson was receiving open looks, but shots weren’t falling. Maker was having trouble making passes, as well as defending inside.

Then they all seemingly flipped a switch that no one knew they had, and sealed the game after playing consistently inspired basketball on both offense and defense, with Johnson living up to his “Iso-Joe” nickname down the stretch, coming up with two clutch isolation baskets to seal the game.

Derrick Rose was once again one of the brightest points in tonight’s come from behind victory, posting 15 points on 46 percent shooting.

Players of the game

For Cleveland – Collin Sexton. The second year guard has a lot to prove coming into the season, and if the preseason is any indication thus far – Cavs fans have something to look forward to. His on ball defense continues to be his staple, and his scoring ability looks to be greatly improved – something that was his biggest fault a season ago.

Posting 24 points on 46 percent shooting, while also shooting 60 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line, Sexton was the ultimate headache for Detroit’s defense tonight.

For Detroit – Bruce Brown. While it’s unfortunate to snub Rose as our pick for the second consecutive game, Brown’s impact was unmatched down the stretch for the Pistons.

Fans were able to see the iteration of Brown that we saw in the NBA’s Summer League just a few months ago – an aggressive scorer with tremendous court vision. He appears to have drastically improved his offensive skill set – much like the aforementioned Sexton. Brown has emerged from his one dimensional play style a season ago, and took control of the offense in the fourth quarter tonight.

He finished tonight’s game with 15 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds while shooting 66 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free throw line.

Key moment

While most may expect this to be one of Johnson’s late game isolation scores, or pretty much anything Brown did tonight, we’re awarding it to Derrick Rose’s buzzer beating layup to end the third quarter.

This was substantial because it contributed to the Pistons 15-0 run to open the fourth quarter after being down 18 points previously. It created a flow of momentum that went largely unmatched by Cleveland for the final quarter, which sparked the miraculous comeback win. Rose has proven to be everything off of the bench that Pistons fans had hoped for, and more.

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Nick’s notes

While I was admittedly flabbergasted that Coach Casey would even consider playing the late game lineup that he did – it just goes to show that we as fans should seldom profess to know more than the coaches in charge of our favorite teams.

I was wrong, to put it delicately, and I’m glad.

Seeing those players get to contribute in valuable minutes – preseason or not – could very well pay dividends down the stretch. I wasn’t thrilled with Maker or Johnson’s minutes for a large majority of the game due to inconsistencies and a general lack of performance, but I was once again proven wrong in the end with Maker coming up big on defense and Johnson providing clutch baskets for Detroit.

I said this after the Dallas Mavericks game a few nights ago – but Andre Drummond has played an absolutely exceptional preseason thus far, and could very well earn the max contract he’s yearning for. It was also incredibly refreshing to see that the addition of Markieff Morris appears to be as beneficial as we had hoped, for any potential future absence of Blake Griffin. (like tonight)

Morris may not be able to completely fill the hole Griffin leaves behind, but he provides stability – something Detroit did not have a season ago, when they only won one game where Griffin did not play.