Jarrett Allen had 23 points and seven rebounds and the depleted Cleveland Cavaliers stretched their winning streak to seven games with a 112-88 win over the host Detroit Pistons on Friday night.
Kevin Love supplied 21 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds off the bench. Caris LeVert and Cedi Osman contributed 15 points and six assists apiece, while Evan Mobley tossed in 11 points with eight rebounds. Raul Neto added 10 points, five assists and five rebounds for Cleveland, which hasn’t lost since its opener.
Cleveland’s starting backcourt was held out of action. Darius Garland was sidelined with a left knee sprain, while Donovan Mitchell sat out with a left ankle sprain.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 19 points, five assists and five rebounds. Saddiq Bey and Jaden Ivey had 18 points apiece and Isaiah Livers added 11 points off the bench.
The Cavaliers had a 58-24 advantage in points in the paint. The Cavs’ reserves outscored Detroit’s bench 54-21.
The Cavaliers led 24-21 after the first quarter. Cleveland then opened the second quarter with a 16-2 run. Allen was the sparkplug, scoring 10 points during that stretch. Osman knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Love racked up five assists as the Cavs led 40-23.
A 7-0 Cleveland spurt soon nudged the lead to 21 points. Mobley dunked in the closing seconds to give the Cavaliers a 57-39 halftime advantage. Allen and Mobley combined for 28 points, while Cunningham topped the Pistons with 16 points.
LeVert’s layup three minutes into the second half gave Cleveland a 68-46 lead. Detroit then reeled off nine consecutive points, capped by Bojan Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer, to cut the Cavs’ advantage to 13 points.
That’s as close as the Pistons got. Cleveland pushed the lead to 22, 90-68, by the end of the quarter.
Love then opened the fourth quarter with a four-point play. Love connected on a 3-point shot three minutes into the quarter to make it 99-72. Okoro’s layup with 3:48 left increased the lead to 30 points.
–Field Level Media