Cleveland Cavaliers @ Detroit Pistons
Friday, March 1, 2024 at 7:00 PM ET
Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI | Game ID: 22300857
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
DET 24 24 22 30 100CLE 32 31 28 19 110
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Mobley, Garland lead short-handed Cavaliers past Pistons, 110-100
DETROIT -- — Darius Garland hit eight 3-pointers and scored 29 points, Evan Mobley had 22 points and 17 rebounds and the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers held off the Detroit Pistons 110-100 on Friday night.
Playing without Donovan Mitchell (knee soreness) and Caris LeVert (elbow), Cleveland led 77-52 in the third quarter, but only scored 19 fourth-quarter points, allowing the Pistons to get as close as 107-100. The Cavaliers improved to 39-20.
Garland was 8 of 12 from 3-point range and 1 of 9 on 2-pointers.
“It felt really good coming out of my hand tonight,” Garland said. “We were missing two big pieces of our team, so I had to be super aggressive.”
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 21 points and 10 assists, and Isaiah Stewart had 16 points and nine rebounds. Detroit has lost seven of eight to fall to 9-50.
“I'm not happy with the outcome,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “There were a number of lapses with the second unit. I have to figure out a (bench) combination that can play the way we want to play.”
Cleveland led by 15 points at halftime and started the third quarter with a 14-4 run to go up 77-52. Garland hit two 3-pointers in the run, making him 8 for 9.
“When he's hitting like that, it means people have to chase him and make tough decisions,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “If you want to trap him or if you want to switch, it creates advantages for us in other places.”
The Cavaliers led 91-70 at the end of the third, having hit 50% (16-32) of their 3-pointers and only 34% (11-32) of their 2-point attempts.
The Pistons cut it 103-93 with 4:53 to play, but couldn't get any closer until Jalen Duren 's free throws pulled them within eight with 2:30 left.
Garland answered with his first 2-pointer of the game and the Cavaliers were able to run out the clock.
“You have to give them a ton of credit,” Bickerstaff said. “I think it is extremely difficult, what they are going through, but they play hard no matter the score.”
Cleveland dominated the first half from behind the arc. They outscored Detroit 39-9 on 3-pointers, including six from Garland, and led by as many as 26 points before the Pistons got within 63-48 at the half.
“I think we were too far back on him at times, but he hit some tough shots,” Pistons rookie Ausar Thompson said about Garland. “I didn't like that. I don't like feeling like that.”
DET KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CLECP C. Porter Jr.
DG D. Garland
DW D. Wade
EM E. Mobley
GN G. Niang
IO I. Okoro
JA J. Allen
MS M. Strus
SM S. Merrill
DETAT A. Thompson
CC C. Cunningham
EF E. Fournier
IS I. Stewart
JD J. Duren
JI J. Ivey
JW J. Wiseman
MF M. Flynn
QG Q. Grimes
SF S. Fontecchio
CLE/DET the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur