Detroit Pistons-Cavaliers: Good, Bad and Ugly

Coming off its biggest win of the season, the Detroit Pistons had a torrent of turnovers, as it lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 122-107.

If the Detroit Pistons had just passed the ball to … other Pistons, they might have had a chance on Wednesday night. However, 22 turnovers turned into 30 Cavaliers points.

With the addition of Taurean Prince and Jarrett Allen, this is a different Cleveland (9-9) team than the one Detroit (4-14) outplayed, but lost to in double overtime, way back in its home opener.

In its previous game, LeBron James had to score 46 points for the Lakers to hold off the Cavaliers.

Here is the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the game.

Detroit Pistons: The Good

Jerami Grant: He is not used to being the go-to player, so you did not know how Jerami Grant would handle the nightmarish 3-for-19 performance he had in a loss to the 76ers last Friday.

The Answer is: Very Well.  He scored 25 points in the rematch with Philly,(which the Pistons won), and then had 26 points against a Cavaliers team that has been doing well defensively as of late.

He was his usual efficient self, scoring 26 on just 13 shots and making both of his three point shots.

https://twitter.com/DetroitPistons/status/1354623825359593475

Wayne Ellington: I said it already on PistonPowered Twitter: “I would say Wayne Ellington is playing like he did 10 years ago, but I don’t think he was this good 10 years ago”.

Once again, Ellington was hitting from outside. He sank 4 of 8 three-point attempts and had 17 points on just 11 shots. And once again, Ellington was more than an outside shooting specialist.

He made some nice passes, and his defense was, well, no worse than any  other Detroit guard was against Cleveland’s super-quick guards.

Detroit Pistons: The Bad

Mason Plumlee: You might wonder why he is in this category. Mason Plumlee did have 15 points, 13 rebounds and three assists. That is a pretty good stat line.

However, he had another statistic, 8 turnovers, that  was an absolute killer. When you have almost one-third of a team’s turnovers, that is a problem. When you do that against a team like Cleveland, with a devastating transition game, it becomes a major problem.

Plumlee’s defense was also problematic. Andre Drummond scored 23 points and reserve center Jarrett Allen added 10. Rookie Isaiah Stewart was scoreless, and coach Dwane Casey finally went to Jahlil Okafor at the end.

Not a good night for Pistons centers in general.

Josh Jackson: Against an athletic Cavaliers team, Detroit could have used a big contribution from Jackson.

Instead, he shot 2-for-9, scored four points in 21 minutes and had three turnovers (only Plumlee had more). He also was not a defensive stopper, as Cavs’  guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland combined for 43 points.

Detroit Pistons: The Ugly

Pistons consistency: Two days earlier, Detroit played a virtually perfect game and ran the Eastern Conference-leading 76ers (without Joel Embiid) out of Little Caesars Arena.

They then show up in Cleveland and just played sloppy, turning the ball over on mostly unforced errors. No one was boxing out, no one except Ellington and Grant doing much on offense.

The Pistons have literally not had a winning streak this season. Every win has been followed by a loss.

Coach Dwane Casey is not happy about this trend.

The schedule does not get any easier (has the schedule ever been easy for Pistons this season?) as the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers come into Detroit for a game Thursday.

The Lakers had been undefeated on the road, until losing to the 76ers on a last-second shot by ex-Piston Tobias Harris on Wednesday.