All round Brandon Knight carries Detroit Pistons past Cleveland Cavaliers 89-79: NBA Recap
Detroit Pistons recorded a season high 13 blocks as they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 89-79 here at Palace of Auburn Hills on Monday night.
Brandon Knight led the Pistons with 17 points 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Tayshaun Prince and rookie Kyle Singler both collected 15 points while Greg Monroe finished off with 9 points and 14 rebounds.
"You would never know how tall Jason Maxiell is because of how hard he plays. He may be 6-5, 6-6 -- he calls himself 6-8 -- but he plays like he's seven feet. That's what it boils down to: he plays as hard as he can every single
play." Pistons rookie centre Andre Drummond on Jason Maxiell who had 5 blocks.
Anderson Varejao was hot as ever; he scored 17 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for his 9th consecutive double-double, Tristan Thompson also posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds while Jeremy Pargo had
10 points and 8 assists for the Cavs.
It was a one sided affair and the lead switched only once in the game, as the Pistons grabbed the advantage early and carried it home. An 8-0 run for the home side early in the first period had them up 14-4. Tristan Thompson made
a dunk for the Cleveland to put them within 11-16 before the Pistons started pulling ahead. Another 8 nil scoring spree pushed Detroit lead to 24-11. The Cavs pulled back a few but Prince slammed one from downtown to put the hosts up by 30-17 by the end of
the period.
Cavaliers were sluggish in the second period as well and Pistons were quick in pushing their lead to 37-21 early. Detroit cemented their authority over the Cavs at the mid quarter mark with a 20 point advantage. Both teams ended
the period with a flurry of buckets that included a Pargo Jumper for the Cavaliers right at the buzzer to make it 39-56 at halftime.
Detroit kept on piling up the lead early in the third period and two back to back layups by Knight followed by a Singler tip shot extended their advantage to 64-43. The Cavs reeled off a 8-0 run to reduce the deficit to 59-71 and
it remained a 12 point game, 75-63, at the end of the third period.
The final period was cold with a total of 30 points scored in it, Villanueva made a dunk shot early to put the Pistons up 79-63 before a 7 point burst by the Cavs made it a three basket game on 70-79. But the Pistons did not panic
and maintained sufficient distance throughout the quarter.
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