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Friday, Nov. 19 8:00pm ET
Sloppy Cavs hand a victory to Pistons | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Detroit Pistons coach Alvin Gentry keeps telling his team that a fast-break offense needs a good defense. Friday night, his team started to get the hang of it. Grant Hill scored 28 points and the Pistons forced Cleveland into 16 first-half turnovers and rolled to a 101-90 victory over the Cavaliers. "We got out on them early because of our defense," Gentry said. "In this league, you can run on turnovers and you can run on rebounds. You can't run on made shots, although no one seems to have told Sacramento that." Jerry Stackhouse added 26 points for the Pistons, who have won two straight for the first time this season. Detroit has won four of six since starting the season with four losses. Cleveland has lost two in a row. "We're playing really well right now," Stackhouse said. "If not for the end of the Toronto game, we would have won four in a row, and we would be on our way." Christian Laettner added 15 points and nine rebounds for Detroit and Lindsey Hunter had 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Hill had 10 rebounds. "This was a great team effort," Gentry said. "We had guys running and Jerome Williams did a great defensive job on Shawn Kemp." Rookie Andre Miller led Cleveland with a career-high 23 points. "Winning is all that matters to me, so I don't care about the points," Miller said. "They got out on us big and we just couldn't come back." Kemp added 12 points and 13 rebounds, but went 0-7 from the floor in the third quarter and didn't play in the fourth. "These guys ought to realize by now that I play people who perform," Cleveland coach Randy Wittman said. "Andre stepped up to the challenge and was under control. We've got to have more people playing like that." Detroit shot 46.2 percent (18-39) in the half, but forced the Cavaliers to commit 23 fouls. That led to 23 points from the free-throw line and a 21-point second-quarter lead. Cleveland's offense struggled just as badly as its defense, as the Cavs turned the ball over 16 times in the first half and shot just 38.5 percent (15-39). "We were careless, and you can't expect to take the night off and win in this league," Wittman said. "It's my job to have this team ready to play, so I take the blame." All that put Detroit up 59-42 at halftime, and Cleveland was unable to make any kind of run in the third quarter. Detroit only scored 21 points in the period, but that was four more than the hapless Cavaliers. The Pistons led 80-59 at the start of the fourth, but Cleveland scored the next nine points to pull within 12 with 10 minutes left. Hunter's jumper ended the run, and Stackhouse gave the Pistons another boost when he blocked Andrew DeClerq's dunk. Cleveland got as close as 11, but Jerome Williams scored nine points in just over two minutes to keep things from getting dangerous for Detroit. The frustrated Cavaliers were called for three second-half technicals -- one each on Wittman, Bob Sura and Lamond Murray. Game notesCleveland's 42 first-half points were the fewest allowed by Detroit in any half this season. ... Cavaliers center Mark Bryant missed the game with a strained back, and forward Danny Ferry left with a strained left calf in the first quarter. ... Cleveland forward Cedric Henderson earned a spot on the blooper reels in the third quarter when he missed a breakaway dunk with no Piston within 10 yards of him. ... Detroit has now won 51 of 70 home games against the Cavaliers. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Cleveland Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 109 New Jersey 96
Detroit 101
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