Detroit Pistons @ Cleveland Cavaliers Preview

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<font color="Blue">Detroit Pistons</font> (5-5) @ <font color="Red">Cleveland Cavaliers</font> (6-4)

Wednesday, November 24th
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Cleveland
TV: ESPN

Previous Games:
Pistons @ Bobcats 91-89 L
Cavaliers @ Knicks 98-88 L

Projected Starting Lineups
PISTONS

<font size="1">(Larry Brown)</font>

<font size="1">(Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Antonio McDyess, Rasheed Wallace)</font>
<font size="4">VS</font>
CAVALIERS

<font size="1">(Paul Silas)</font>

<font size="1">(Jeff McInnis, Ira Newble, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas)</font>

Factors off the Bench

<font size="1">(Lindsey Hunter, Robert Traylor)</font>

Game MVPs

<font size="1">(Chauncey Billups, LeBron James)</font></div>

Brandon's Analysis
The Pistons seem to be lost without their defensive beast, Ben Wallace, and have had two very difficult games against the Charlotte Bobcats, escaping with an overtime win in the first game, and a loss last night in Charlotte.

After losing their first three games of the season, the Cavs went on a 6-game win streak before losing Sunday to the New York Knicks, putting them at second place in the Central standings.

A key matchup will be LeBron James and Tayshaun Prince. Prince's long wingspan should make it difficult for King James to get to the hoop, and forcing him to the baseline could result in a poor shot selection throughout the game, or a nice dish to Gooden or Ilgauskas each and everytime.

Speaking of the Bron/Gooden connection, one man that poses a threat against the Pistons is Drew Gooden. Rasheed and McDyess will have to shut down the paint early, and force Gooden and Ilgauskas to take jumpers, all while keeping Big Z away from the boards, both on offense and defense.

The Pistons will need to hold onto any lead they gain going into the final quarter, where you can almost bet that LeBron and Co. will turn it up in Cleveland. Any momentum gained by the Cavs in the 4th will need to be stopped, either by a nice basket or a timeout. The Pistons are still suffering from the incident that took place in the Palace the other night, so the crowd will definitely play a factor in this game.

Look for Snow and Hunter to come off the bench and try and cool down a hot Chauncey Billups, who may end up with a 30-point performance tonight, if his shots are falling early.

Brandon's Prediction
With all aspects of this game against the Pistons (away game, Ben's absence, bad karma, hot Cavs team), I'm going to say that Detroit loses their lead going into the fourth, Rasheed loses his patience, and the Pistons watch their record fall below .500 as the Cavaliers take this one to the house, 95-87.

 

I don't know 'bout this one. Though Ben is suspended, I think Rasheed wants to prove something after his ejection of yesterday.He'll fill the stat sheet today, but I predict a close win for the Cavs.Z will take advantage of his height, and with Ben out I can see LeBron take it to the hole all night long and again play a fantastic game.I do expect a good game of Antonio McDyess though,and his play could be the factor in this game.

Cavs - 97
Pistons - 93

 

This should be a good game. The Pistons seem like a different team without Big Ben. But with or without him, the Pistons are a very good team. McDyess is doing a very good job filling in for Ben. The Pistons may come out hungy and with a lot of energy after a dissapointing loss to the Cats. I think the Cavs will pull away with a win.

 

LeBron James is lighting up the Pistons right now. With about 10 minutes left in the second quarter, he has 19 points.

 

Right now the Cavs are up 31-21 with 9 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter.

LeBron has already put up 19 pts 2 ast and 2 reb in the 15 minutes he has played...

 

LeBron was just taken out and ended up scoring a career high 43 points!

 

wow lebron james is going nuts, 43 points with a minute left in the ball game. was prince guarding him?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting deception:</div><div class="quote_post">wow lebron james is going nuts, 43 points with a minute left in the ball game. was prince guarding him?</div>

It was mainly Darvin Ham and Tayshaun Prince guarding him though, with occassionally Hamilton guarded him. James was just too strong for Prince.

 

LBJ played great but, this concernes me about the Pistons. Without Wallace they seem weak. I guess Wallace is the glue that holds Detroit together. Obviously no one else can. It's almost like they really lost a lot of chemistry from the past season.

 

Not to add the fact that Lebron played on 38 minutes, and manage to get 5 assists on the side. Dudes crazy.

 

Talk about proving critics wrong. Lebron is THE FUTURE.
I believe in the chosen one haha.
Not only is he posting good stats, he's helping his team win. Now that is how you gain respect.

 

I appreciate the simple plays LeBron makes..
But man that kid needs A LOT of work on defense. Aware of his lateral quickness, that shouldn't stop him from at least being a physical defender anyway.
This is beyond lateral quickness though. Kid was simply out of position defensively most of the game and team help was more than relied upon to make up for it.

 

Good win guys, you owned our team. Pistons are playing like crap and will not get even close to the NBA Championship at this rate.

But yeah, whoever mentioned Ben Wallace is right. Without him I think we are 1-4, with the only win against the Bobcats. Even though he doesn't do everything on offense, and only is one player on defense, he just holds our whole team together with his emotion. Easily the MVP of our team.

BTW, Lebron is king.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CLEVELAND (AP) -- LeBron James soared, swooped and scored almost at will with Larry Brown watching from the opposite bench.

Perhaps trying to show his U.S. Olympic team coach that he should have played more in Greece, James scored a career-high 43 points Wednesday night to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 92-76 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Jeff McInnis added 16 points as the Cavaliers won for the seventh time in eight games.

The Pistons were shorthanded, playing without center Ben Wallace, who served the third game of his six-game suspension for brawling with the Indiana Pacers. But even with Wallace, Detroit may not have been able to stop James.

This was his night.

The NBA's reigning rookie of the year scored 21 points in the first half and 12 in the third quarter when he assisted on Cleveland's two other field goals. In the fourth, after Detroit pulled within 10, James made consecutive 3-pointers, punctuating the second with a wag of his tongue as the Cavaliers went up by 16.

James was taken out with 2:03 left to a rousing ovation and the Cavaliers up 87-71. At that point, the rest of the Cavaliers had scored 44 points to his 43.

Richard Hamilton scored 28 points and Rasheed Wallace 11 for Detroit.

Brown wasn't expected to be at the game. But he surprised the defending NBA champions by arriving about 1 1/2 hours before the opening tip after getting permission to travel from doctors.

Brown recently had hip surgery, and there had been concern he could develop blood clots. He missed Tuesday's game in Charlotte.

In Athens, Brown was more comfortable playing veterans to run his system so he sat James, who had never spent so much time on the bench and didn't enjoy being a cheerleader. James averaged just 5.4 points in 11.4 minutes in eight games as the U.S. team settled for a bronze medal.

``It wasn't that I wasn't happy,'' James said before the game. ``I wish I had a better opportunity to showcase my talents. That's all it came down to. There ain't no hard feelings.''

James showed his full arsenal of moves in the first quarter, scoring 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. He had a power dunk underneath, a soaring slam down the lane and tip-in where he appeared to illegally touch the rim to pull himself in front.

For good measure, he dropped a 15-foot jumper and spun through two Pistons on a double-team before flipping in a finger roll. During one stretch bridging the first and second quarter, James scored 15 of Cleveland's 17 points.

The Pistons scored the first eight points of the second half, trimming Cleveland's lead to nine before James scored six in a row to make it 60-47. James then picked up three assists, hit a jumper and made two free throws to put the Cavaliers ahead 71-59 entering the fourth.

Notes

James, who will turn 20 on Dec. 30, is the youngest player in league history to reach 500 assists and rebounds, doing it quicker than Magic Johnson, who was 20 years, 213 days when he hit both plateaus. ... The Pistons have trailed at the half in 10 of 11 games. ... Before the game, the Cavaliers activated rookie G Luke Jackson and placed swingman Sasha Pavlovic on the injured list. Jackson made a 3-pointer with 54 seconds left for his first points this season</div>

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2004112405

 

I manage to see the first quarter where he had his two dunks. Man another head leveled with the rim dunk. I swear I've never seen somebody get there head at or above the rim so much. Lebron is definately King so far and I believe he will maintain this status.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting mrj18:</div><div class="quote_post">LBJ played great but, this concernes me about the Pistons. Without Wallace they seem weak. I guess Wallace is the glue that holds Detroit together. Obviously no one else can. It's almost like they really lost a lot of chemistry from the past season.</div>

WEll seeing as your favorite team is the Knicks wouldn't you want the PIstons to suck so your teaam has a higher chance at a higher seed, farther in the playoffs, etc.

LeBron JAmes was a beast in this game. The Pistons defense could not contain LeBron what so ever. I mean he was 15-22 shooting with 43 points A CAREER HIGH! I thought LeBRon was going for 50 during the beginning of the 4th quarter when he those those two 3 PT in a row.

Good Job Cavs, I think this shows that the Pistons will not repeat this year. I now think that the Heat are the best team in the East, with the Pistons struggling and THe PAcers suspended. THe Pistons need Ben Wallace to even compete.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ace2k2:</div><div class="quote_post"> I think this shows that the Pistons will not repeat this year. I now think that the Heat are the best team in the East</div>

Yeah because games in november really mean something making statements like you just did at this stage of the season is not smart. I have watched the last two NBA champions start off playing 500 ball for the first month of the season and gone on to make big runs and win it all. People overreact at at this stage of the season when their team loses games when they have just came on a great year but in the end what happens in this first month doesn't mean much come march time. Where the real teams start going on runs.

Miami although have a very good record, they have yet to beat an elite team. Once they start doing that people will give them more credit. All they are doing now is beating on non playoff teams.

 

Didn't the Spurs have a losing record for the first 15 games last year? And look to the Lakers, 2 years ago. They only climbed above .500 in January. When Big Ben comes back, things will change, and the Pistons will surely be in the ECF for the third time in a row.

 

The year the Spurs won the title they started 12-9, last year the Pistons won the title starting 16-13. Last years Spurs team started 9-10 and If It wasn't for Derek Fisher's lucky shot they would of been contending for a place in the NBA finals. People who think elte teams losing alot of games early suddenly means they aren't the best in their conference or aren't as good are in a for a big surprise when the season gets serious.

 

Damn, Lebron lit it up, 43 for a 19 year old, thats crazy.