Alex Hunter breaks down his preview, prediction and pick for Tuesday’s Game 1 matchup between the Pistons and Cavaliers.
The Pistons and Cavaliers begin their second-round series with Game 1 in Detroit on Tuesday. On DraftKings Sportsbook, Detroit is favored by 3.5 points and this game has a total of 215.5 points.
Let’s dive into my preview and pick for this matchup.
The Pistons and Cavaliers meet in the second round after both clubs just won Game 7s on Sunday. Detroit cruised to an easy 116-94 win vs. the Magic and Cleveland eliminated the Raptors 114-102. The Pistons overcame a 3-1 deficit to win their series vs. the Magic while the Cavaliers traded blows with the Raptors, with the home team winning every contest of the best-of-seven. So far in these playoffs, the Pistons rank third in net rating and the Cavaliers rank eighth.
These are two very different clubs, as the Pistons rank first in defensive rating, but 11th in offensive rating, while the Cavaliers rank fifth in offensive rating and 10th in defensive rating. In the regular season, Detroit and Cleveland split their season series 2-2.
The Pistons are led by Cade Cunningham, who was brilliant in their final three wins vs. the Magic, scoring 45, 32 and 32 points. Veteran Tobias Harris was also massive in the first round, averaging 21.6 PPG. Harris had to elevate his game and operate as Detroit’s second option behind Cunningham, as Jalen Duren struggled mightily, averaging just 10.6 PPG after averaging 19.5 in the regular season and being named to his first All-Star team. Duren did show some signs of life in the Game 7 win over the Magic, though, posting 15 points and 15 rebounds, both of which are high marks for the postseason.
Hopefully Duren can carry this over and have a better series vs. the Cavaliers, which seems possible given his history in this matchup. In his final two meetings of the regular season vs. Cleveland, Duren posted 33 points and 16 rebounds, and 24 points and 14 rebounds. If the center can play even close to this type of basketball tonight to complement the impressive play of Cunningham and Harris, the Pistons will be in a great position to win Game 1 on their home floor.
The Cavaliers have a compelling core of Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. The latter ended the series vs. the Magic with a bang, posting a 22-point and 19-rebound double-double in Game 7, which is easily Allen’s best game of the postseason. Mitchell also scored 22 points and Max Strus added 12 points off the bench.
The issue for Cleveland is that the team has been susceptible on defense, which has been its flaw all season. The Cavaliers rank 10th in defensive rating in these playoffs, after finishing just 15th in the regular season.
Another problem for Cleveland in the first round was its inability to win on the road, going 0-3 in Toronto. You can get away with this when you have home-court advantage for the series, but that isn’t the case anymore vs. the top-seeded Pistons, who are an outstanding 34-10 at home this season, which is the second-best home record in the league, only trailing the Thunder. The Cavaliers will need to have a terrific offensive performance to upset the Pistons tonight and steal home court, but with Detroit’s defense ascending right now, that feels unlikely.
The Pistons ended their series vs. the Magic on a tear and Detroit should start the second round with a home win over the Cavaliers tonight.
Given Cleveland’s road woes this postseason, it was surprising to see the Pistons only favored by 3.5 points and backing them to cover is the right call for this Game 1.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。