Pistons at Cavaliers
LeBron James should be well-rested on Friday after getting the night off Wednesday as the Cleveland Cavaliers were falling at Indiana on the second night of a back-to-back. The Detroit Pistons, who visit the Cavaliers on Friday, are the unfortunate team that gets to defend a healthy and rested James.
The Pistons could not figure out a way to defend Kristaps Porzingis in the opener of their two-game trip and suffered a 105-102 loss at the New York Knicks to fall to 1-6 on the road. "I don’t know. I can’t explain that," Detroit guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope told reporters of the difference between the team's road mark and its NBA-best 5-0 record at home. "We’re just not carrying over what we have at home on the road. We’ve got to find a way to do that among each other." Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving combined for 51 points but no other Cleveland player scored in double figures with James out of the lineup on Wednesday. "I thought they played great," Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue told reporters of Irving and Love. "I just thought that Kyrie did a good job of scoring, attacking, and making the right basketball play. ... I thought Kyrie did a great job running the team, running the sets, making the right plays, the right passes. Kevin did the same thing."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE PISTONS (6-6): Shooting guard Caldwell-Pope logged the most minutes on the team last season due in large part to his status as the team's best perimeter defender but is beginning to round out his game offensive. Caldwell-Pope is averaging 17.8 points in the last five games and scored 21 points on Wednesday despite missing a final 3-point attempt at the buzzer. "We were looking for what we got," Caldwell-Pope told reporters. "We were trying to get to overtime. We executed well and got a great shot. It didn’t go down."
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (9-2): Cleveland missed James on Wednesday but also missed shooting guard J.R. Smith, who sat out his third straight game to rest an ankle injury. Smith, who missed most of training camp while seeking a new contract, is averaging 10.5 points on 33.8 percent shooting but showed signs of breaking out of the funk with a season-high 17 points in a win at Washington last week before suffering the injury. Iman Shumpert managed two points on 1-of-6 shooting while starting in Smith's spot on Wednesday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pistons PF Jon Leuer scored a season-high 17 points on Wednesday and logged minutes at center in a smaller lineup.
2. Love is enjoying a string of six straight double-doubles.
3. The teams are meeting for the first time since the first round of the playoffs last spring, when Cleveland swept the four-game series.