Cavaliers vs. Pistons: Game 3 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NBA Playoffs
All season long, the Cleveland Cavaliers played second fiddle to the Golden State Warriors. Now as the postseason kicks into high gear, the Cavs are one win away from pulling off a feat the Warriors could not: sweeping their first-round opponent.
Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 26 points and Kevin Love added 20, as Cleveland overcame an off night from LeBron James to earn a 101-91 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday. The Cavaliers hold a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and can sweep with a win Sunday.
James, who scored a combined 49 points in the first two games of the series, was held to 20. He went just 8-of-24 from the floor, though he added 13 rebounds and seven assists.
The Pistons made a clear vow to play physically with the four-time MVP, with fouls even at times bordering on cheap shots:
James was 3-of-13 in the second half, as he aggressively fired up shots to put Detroit away. He clearly took particular pleasure in attempting to break down rookie forward Stanley Johnson, who received a hero's welcome from the Palace crowd. Johnson drew headlines earlier this week when he told reporters he was in James' head.
"I could care less if I'm in his head or in his mind or anything like that," Johnson said Thursday, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. "I'm just trying to play basketball. It's up to him how he wants to react to whatever he does. I think I'm in a good place."
James has dominated Johnson for most of the series, but the Arizona product held his own Friday. Johnson played physical defense and scored nine points in his 14 minutes, going 3-of-4 from the floor. Friedell was impressed with his early performance:
But nearly all of Detroit's production came from its starters. Each one scored in double figures, led by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 18. Reggie Jackson had a double-double with 13 points and 12 assists but shot 5-of-16 from the floor. Andre Drummond added 17 points and seven rebounds, but he was limited to 27 minutes.
Perhaps the most unwelcome story of this series has been Drummond's struggles from the free-throw line. The All-Star center was 1-of-6 at the charity stripe in Game 3, making him six of 24 overall for the series. Stan Van Gundy was forced to sit him for extended periods due to the Cavaliers' employment of the hack-a strategy.
Drummond was on the floor for just one minute and 33 seconds of the fourth quarter. He was the only Pistons starter who did not play at least 39 minutes—not ideal when Drummond is the Pistons' franchise player. Matt Steinmetz of 95.7 The Game won't be pleased if the NBA changes the hack-a rule:
Matt Shepard of WDFN put it another way:
Even beyond the general embarrassment of Drummond's inability to sink a free throw, his absence takes away the Pistons' biggest advantage. When Drummond sits, Cleveland can slot in Kevin Love at the 5 without dying defensively. Every Cleveland lineup with Love playing center has blitzed opponents offensively this season, giving the Cavs Warriors-esque spacing.
Love has responded in this series with three straight double-doubles, and Game 3 was by far the most efficient of the bunch. He knocked down seven of his 10 shots and added 12 rebounds in 39 minutes.
While the Cavs seem comfortable with their starting lineup as is, getting Love minutes at the 5 will help if Cleveland faces the Dubs in a few rounds. With Matthew Dellavedova (12 points, five assists) coming into his own as a floor spacer and leader of the Cavs bench unit, there's something resembling a workable team here.
Despite being up 3-0, Cleveland still looks like it's playing at 75 percent. This team still hasn't remotely approached the way it was humming coming into the playoffs last season. The Cavs are going to need to work out the kinks as their margin for error closes, but for now, they're coalescing into something better than they were during the regular season.
Postgame Reaction
Van Gundy wasn't pleased with his team's rebounding, per NBA.com: “We got out rebounded by 14. Rebounding has been one of our strengths all year, but it’s been terrible in this series.”
He also commented on why Johnson got so few minutes: “The rationale on [Johnson], I played what I thought were my five best players."
Johnson was pleased with the fan performance: “One thing I will say, I give it to the fans tonight. They did a hell of a job, more than a hell of a job, coming out and supporting us.
"I think for this season, the only thing that can compare is ‘Ben Wallace night’ when we beat the Warriors. I think they did their part. The gym was electric for us. It’s good to see from the people of Detroit to be rowdy just like we like it and just how we want to be on the court.”
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue complimented Irving:
"Kyrie’s just being Kyrie. We’ve seen it before and we see it all the time, but I thought defensively, he was great. He was locked in and I thought offensively he was real precise on what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go on the court with the basketball. I also thought he made some good plays outside of the big 3 at the end of the shot clock, I thought he played really controlled and aggressive in attacking the basket and making the right plays.
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Love was pleased with his offensive performance:
"For me, I had to continue to be aggressive. These two guys over here (James and Irving) have been constant on me about that. So, when they’re coming to the double team I just face up to see what they are going to give me and make a play.
A lot of times, I was looking weak side when I was able to get to the middle, split the double team, kick out to LeBron [James], kick out [Matthew] to Dellavedova. We can get the swing-swing action we’ve been grabbing at the last month, two months of basketball since the break. I want to continue to keep being aggressive, keep fighting and be efficient.
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