Cavaliers at Pistons
Following a rousing Christmas Day victory, the Cleveland Cavaliers will attempt to extend their five-game winning streak Monday with a visit to the Detroit Pistons, who have lost five straight. Kyrie Irving's basket with 3.4 seconds left lifted the Cavaliers to a come-from-behind 109-108 win over the visiting Golden State Warriors on Sunday in an NBA Finals rematch.
Cleveland will now try to carry the positive vibes into a stretch in which they play eight of their next 11 on the road, capped by a visit to Golden State on Jan. 16. Irving finished with 25 points, 10 assists and a career-high seven steals while LeBron James produced 31 points and 13 rebounds as Cleveland recorded its second five-game winning streak in December alone. The Pistons have also lost four straight at home after Friday's 119-113 setback to the Warriors, who shot 56 percent from the field. "When your team plays that hard and you still can't guard them, I need to look in the mirror because we didn't give them a good enough game plan," coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters after Golden State became the fourth team during Detroit's five-game slide to score at least 105 points.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (23-6): Coach Tyronn Lue may need to dig deeper into the bench in the second half of a back-to-back after using just eight players - all for at least 17 minutes - in Sunday's win. Reserves Richard Jefferson and Iman Shumpert played 29 minutes apiece but were a combined 3-of-20 from the floor and 1-of-10 from behind the arc. Irving had 25 points, 11 assists and zero turnovers in a 104-81 rout of the Pistons at home on Nov. 18.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (14-18): Tobias Harris was moved to the bench for the Golden State game and responded in a big way with a season-high 26 points in 32 minutes. He made 8-of-14 shots after a rough patch in which he went 17-of-46 from the field, but fellow forward Marcus Morris continued his struggles with a 1-for-7 effort. Morris is shooting 21.4 percent during the losing streak while making one of his 20 tries from 3-point range.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. All five Detroit starters scored in single digits in the loss at Cleveland last month.
2. Cavaliers C Tristan Thompson has played in an NBA-high 399 straight games.
3. Pistons C Andre Drummond is shooting 49.1 percent from the floor and 40.3 percent from the free throw line at home, compared to 58.1 and 54.4 on the road.