11/4/22 Recap: Shorthanded Cavs stomp Pistons with full-team effort

Kevin Love shoots a three-pointer
Cavs.com

 All around dominance.

A three-word review of the Cavs' victory over the Pistons probably looks something like that.

A night that began with news of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell being sidelined with ankle injuries, ended with a stampede in the Little Caesar's Arena toward victory.

Cleveland had everything right coming into tonight's matchup. The game plan was simple. Play to your strengths. 

And that they did.

Cleveland knew that tonight's game would be won on the defensive end, and Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen anchored a defense that only allowed 39 first-half points. 

It was from there that the Cavs used that defensive spark to start making just about everything on offense. Jarrett Allen, Kevin Love, Evan Mobley, Caris LeVert, Cedi Osman. The list goes on of players that made a sizeable impact on the offensive end to propel the Cavs to victory.

It's almost impossible to highlight somebody first, but you can't with Jarrett Allen.

Jarrett Allen sent a minor reminder to the NBA tonight. The Cavs have three All-Stars. Not just Donovan and Darius, but also Jarrett Allen. Allen anchored the defense with two emphatic blocks and put up a season-high 23 points.

People had put Allen in their rear-view mirror, and it makes sense. Even though Allen has been good all year, playing his role tremendously, he had been relegated to the 3rd offensive option after the addition of Donovan Mitchell. With that came a slight cut in offensive production. Allen was fully prepared to be propelled back into that spotlight tonight though.

Kevin Love is next up on the agenda for tonight. Sixth Man of the Year? Might as well start that campaign early.

Love was everywhere. Draining 57%  of his 3-point attempts, scoring 18 points, and not to mention the ten assists. KLove came two rebounds short of his first triple-double since April of 2014 with the Timberwolves. His playmaking was one of the main catalysts of the run in the second quarter that put the Cavs up by 20.

Caris LeVert and Kevin Love high-five
Cavs.com

Evan Mobley was making things happen as well. He finished the game with a career-high, eye-popping EIGHT blocks. His presence in the paint alongside Allen made it seemingly impossible for Detroit to score. 

Mobley approaches triple-double territory as well, finishing with eight rebounds and 11 points to go alongside those eight blocks.

As for the rest of the guys, the Cavs got good Cedi tonight. Osman finished with 15 points on four made triples, as well as six assists and four boards.

LeVert played calm, collected basketball in the point guard role, never extending beyond his role or feeling pressured to score with Darius and Donovan out. Caris ended the game with 15 points, six assists, and six rebounds on an efficient 60% shooting night. 

It was a great win tonight for the Cavs, their seventh straight since dropping the season-opener in Toronto.

Up next is the Los Angeles Lakers at the beginning of the west-coast road trip. The tip-off is 3:30 PM on Sunday.