For the second straight year, the Cavaliers swept their First Round foe out of the playoffs. But this time, they move to the Conference Semis with a healthy roster that includes a Big Three playing their best ball of the season.
Cleveland’s passage to the Second Round didn’t come easy. Despite leading by nine with just under five minutes to play, the Pistons clawed back to within one possession in the closing seconds. But Reggie Jackson’s three-point attempt fell short and the Wine and Gold completed the sweep with the 100-98 win on Sunday night in Motown.
Kyrie Irving – who led both teams in the series at 27.5 points per – was unstoppable after intermission, netting 13 of his 31 points in the third quarter, 20 in the second half.
“That was really my emphasis coming out of halftime – just getting these guys going offensively and defensively, just to let them know that we have to get going, we can’t have third quarters like we did during the regular season,” said Irving. “So I think we just continued to follow each other and trust the shot.”
On the night, Irving went 12-of-25 from the floor, 4-of-11 from long-distance. One of those treys came from well outside the area code – splashing home a 41-footer to end the third quarter and give Cleveland a three-point edge heading to the final period.
The Wine and Gold needed every one of those points against a feisty Pistons squad that forced nine ties and 11 lead-changes.
LeBron James followed up with 22 points in the win, going 9-of-19 from the floor to go with 11 boards, six assists and a pair of steals – doubling-up for the third time in the four-game series.
Kevin Love – who led Cleveland with 35 double-doubles during the regular season – doubled-up in all four games of the First Round. On Sunday night, the three-time All-Star overcame a rough shooting night to lead the Cavaliers with 13 boards, grabbing four of those off the offensive glass. Love added 11 points, but went just 3-of-15 from the floor in the process.
”For our team, it doesn’t matter who’s the leading scorer or anything; we just want to get wins,” said James following the victory. “But the fact that (Kyrie) was in such a great groove throughout this whole series, we rode his coattails and we rode (Kevin Love).
“I was able to focus on some other things – my rebounding, getting other guys involved, defensively just trying to lock in on my individual matchup. And I knew if I needed to score I could have. But when you have (Irving and Love) they just put maximum pressure on the defense from Game 1 to Game 4.”
J.R. Smith notched 12 of his 15 points in the first half – going 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. But his lone three-pointer of the second stanza was one for the books – even for the Cavaliers brash marksman.
Not to be outdone by Irving’s halfcourt heave to end the third, Swish took a baseline inbounds pass with just 2.2 remaining on the shot-clock and, from 26 feet, launched a triple that bottomed out to give the Cavaliers a nine-point edge with 4:51 to play.
Matthew Dellavedova rounded out the Cavaliers in double-figures, tormenting Steve Blake in the second-half of Sunday’s clincher – going 3-of-3 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the stripe to notch 11 points in just 14 minutes of action.
The Pistons played their best game of the series on Sunday. Their forward duo of Marcus Morris and Tobias Harris combined for 47 points on 17-for-26 shooting while Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson each tallied double-doubles.
But the Cavaliers drilled another 13 threes, went 15-of-17 from the stripe and committed only six turnovers to seal the deal.
The Wine and Gold now await the winner of the Boston-Atlanta series, which stands tied at two games apiece after the Celtics’ overtime win earlier in the evening.
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