Pistons got a scary glimpse of their biggest threat

Coming into the series, one of the biggest concerns for the Detroit Pistons was how their bench would stack up against Cleveland’s, and it was a mixed bag in game one. 

I don’t know about you, but I was far more worried when Max Strus got the ball last night than when James Harden had it, and for good reason, as Strus came in and gave the Cavs 19 points off the bench, hitting 4-of-8 of his 3-point shots. 

If you take away Daniss Jenkins, who had his best all-around game of the playoffs, Strus outscored the rest of the Pistons bench by four points on his own. 

The Cavs’ bench outscored the Pistons’ backups by eight points and gave a scary glimpse of a potential problem. 

The Pistons’ bench can’t get run off the floor 

Cade Cunningham played 42 minutes in game one, mostly because things started to fall apart immediately every time he was off the floor. 

Can we stop for a second and marvel at how good Cunningham has been in these playoffs? This is a guy who had a freaking collapsed lung a few weeks ago and is now carrying the Pistons on both ends of the floor. Cade somehow deserves even more credit than the ample supply he is already getting. 

Daniss Jenkins won the battle with Dennis Schroder last night, with Schroder coughing it up four times and losing his composure for a technical, but I’m not sure that’s a matchup the Pistons can count on winning, as Schroder also got to the rim a few times and changed the pace of the game. 

But even with Jenkins scoring 12 points, the Pistons’ bench was still beaten overall and will have to be better. 

Detroit can’t count on Harden and Mitchell missing a ton of shots every night, especially in Cleveland, so the bench has to keep it close and can’t let guys like Strus and Merrill go off from long range. 

What we saw last night would have been compounded in Cleveland, so the Pistons have to do a better job of slowing down Strus while keeping the pressure on Schroder. 

Caris LeVert has to do something 

The problem is that outside of Jenkins, the Pistons don’t have much scoring on their bench. Isaiah Stewart, who hasn’t looked right and is hardly much of a scorer even when he does. 

Ron Holland will get you some energy points, but mostly in transition, Javonte Green is mostly just a garbage man with an occasional corner three, which really leaves Caris LeVert as the guy the Pistons desperately need to step up. 

Unfortunately, there haven’t been many signs that’s going to happen, as LeVert has missed a ton of layups in the playoffs and otherwise hasn’t shot the ball much. Detroit could really use the guy they thought they were getting when they inked him to a two-year deal. 

If Kevin Huerter continues to be unavailable, then the Pistons will need something out of LeVert to keep pace with the Cavs bench, which could be the X-Factor in this series. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow