The Cleveland Cavaliers turned up the heat in tonight’s matchup with the Detroit Pistons by lobbing insults that unfortunately have some truth.
The Cavs gave the Pistons bulletin board material by reportedly saying they didn’t think Detroit was “in their class.”
According to beat reporter Chris Fedor, the Cavs walked away from their recent overtime defeat to Detroit, confident that they were the better team. To be brutally honest, I can see their point, as they were missing five rotation players, including their top two scorers, and it took a miracle finish for the Pistons to steal a win in overtime.
But most of this has to do with Detroit being unproven in the playoffs, and the Cavs are confident they can beat the less experienced team in a seven-game series.
They aren’t wrong, but this talking point is often overblown.
The Detroit Pistons aren’t the only team that hasn’t made a deep playoff run
I find it funny that the Cavaliers, a team that hasn’t made it out of the second round, is throwing stones at the Pistons. It would be different if this were coming from the Celtics or even the Knicks, but the Cavs have plenty of playoff demons of their own to slay.
That aside, they aren’t wrong. This group of Pistons hasn’t been out of the first round, and even though they put up a spirited fight against the Knicks last season, they did come up short.
But this is true of all teams at some point, including last year’s champs, the OKC Thunder, who got bounced early in the playoffs the year before. They had the same narrative over them, which was, “are they experienced enough?” “Will they have enough offense in the playoffs?” “Is their coach the right one to get them over the hump?”
The Thunder won the title with an even younger team than the Pistons have now, and their coach Mark Daigneault wasn’t a championship-caliber coach until he was, and this applies to most of their players, all of whom lacked championship experience right up until the point that they got it.
I’m not saying the Pistons are going to win a title, and there is some truth to what the Cavaliers are saying, but we’ve also seen recently with teams like OKC and Indiana that experience isn’t the only thing that matters, as they beat more experienced teams with a combination of talent and chemistry.
The Pistons have both, which can make up for a lot, including their lack of experience.
Detroit may come up short of the ultimate goal this season, but it won't likely be because they weren’t ready for the big moment, as last year’s battle in front of a raucous New York crowd gave them a taste of what they are in for in the postseason.
The Pistons and Cavs are headed for a potential second-round matchup in the playoffs, so Detroit may get their chance to prove whether they are in Cleveland’s class, or possibly one above it.