Tayshaun Prince keys the Detroit Pistons to an 87 – 75 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers – NBA Recap
On Wednesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the Detroit Pistons at the Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH. Despite losing point guard Rodney Stuckey in the first quarter due to a hamstring injury, the Pistons, behind 29
points and 8 rebounds from their veteran forward Tayshaun Prince, routed the Cavaliers 87-75 on the road.
Pistons raced off to a 6-0 lead at the start of first quarter. As the match went along, the Cavaliers settled, starting the scoring behind their rookie guard Kyrie Irving. The lead only changed hands once in the first quarter at
the 5:40 mark when Irving made his second layup and gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the match.
The quarter ended with the Cavaliers leading 23-21. Tayshaun Prince had 5 points where as Kyrie Irving had 12 points to end the quarter.
The second quarter was Detroit`s turn to make the charge as they outscored the Cavaliers 28-21. Tayshaun Prince had 18 points in that piece, in which he scored thrice from behind the three point line. Irving added 2 more assists
to his repertoire.
In the earlier stages of the second half, the Pistons, behind Tayshaun`s 4 for 4 shooting from behind the arc, looked as though they were going to run away with the game. At one point, they managed to extend their lead to 15 points,
but then the Cavs started to respond.
Pistons outscored the Cavaliers 19-17 in the third quarter and were leading by only 7 points going into the fourth.
Cavaliers upheld by the home support of the Quicken Loans Arena tried to make a late charge into the game cutting the lead down to 5 points. But it was Tayshaun`s night and he led the Pistons past the resisting Cavaliers (87-75)
giving the hosts their 5th loss in a row.
Brandon Knight (Pistons point guard) also had a great night managing to score 16 points and dropping five assists for his team mates. Kyrie Irving led the Cavs with 22 points and had his career best rebounding night with 9 boards.
Tayshaun looked like he was back to his best during this game and was looking in form after an injury plagued season. Byron Scott, the Cavs coach, appreciated the effort put in by the Pistons vet;
"Prince looked like he did five or six years ago. Tayshaun played extremely well and really won the game for them. He's won championships, so he knows how to put the ball in the basket when the game is on the line."
Ben Wallace also had a great night for the Pistons. He had a game high of 4 blocks coming off from the bench to help the Pistons get an important win on the road.
Everybody on the Pistons roster stepped up to lend a helping hand and their coach Lawrence Frank was happy;
"Collectively, this was a super effort by our guys, especially being short-handed after losing Rodney (Stuckey) a couple of minutes in. Literally, everyone who played stepped up for us tonight."
Pistons now have a tough road game at Chicago where they will have to pull out all their guns in order to get the all important ‘W’.
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