Pistons at Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers were well on their way to a third consecutive victory - in blowout fashion, no less - when the wheels came off in the fourth quarter at Indiana on Tuesday. The Cavaliers blew a 20-point lead in the final nine minutes, allowing the Pacers to close the game on a 31-6 run to hand them their 11th loss in 13 games. Cleveland will try to pick up the pieces against another struggling team when the Detroit Pistons pay a visit on Wednesday.
Detroit is coming off one of its best performances in weeks, knocking off Chicago 99-85 to end an 18-game losing streak to the Bulls. The victory also snapped an eight-game skid at home for the Pistons, who are trying to finish the season on a high note after staggering through March with one win in 14 games. Detroit has dominated the series of late against the Cavaliers, going 3-0 this season to make it five straight wins.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE PISTONS (26-52): Guard Brandon Knight appears to have snapped out of an ugly offensive funk. He scored a team-high 20 points against the Bulls after pumping in 25 in a loss at Minnesota. In his six previous games, Knight had scored a total of 38 points and failed to shoot better than 33.3 percent in five consecutive contests. Knight has had great success against the Cavaliers, averaging 22.6 points in seven games.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (24-53): Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving also broke out of a slump, scoring 29 against Indiana after managing a total of 20 in his previous two games, during which he hit 7-of-35 shots. Still, the fourth-quarter collapse marked the fourth time this season that the Cavaliers have blown a lead of at least 20 points. "I don't know what it is," Irving said. "I honestly don't have an answer for that."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Detroit has held the Cavaliers under 80 points in three of the last five meetings.
2. Cleveland is 4-16 in the second game of a back-to-back.
3. The Pistons are 1 1/2 games ahead of the Cavaliers in the battle to avoid the Central Division basement.