Game Preview: Winless Cavaliers Come to Town to Face Undefeated Pistons
The Cleveland Cavaliers replaced LeBron James in the lineup with 23-year-old Cedi Osman, who has filled in admirably as a solid passer. (David Richard/USA Today Sports It is a tale of two teams tonight at Little Caesars Arena as the 0-4 Cleveland Cavaliers face off against the undefeated Detroit Pistons (3-0). The Pistons are fresh off of an exhilarating win over the Philadelphia 76ers where Blake Griffin dropped 50 points. Cleveland, meanwhile, is coming off a bad loss against the Brooklyn Nets last night at Quicken Loans Arena. To make matters even worse for the Cavs, they will reportedly be without star Kevin Love. Joe Vardon of The Athletic says that Cleveland will hold out Love for tonight’s matchup with foot soreness. Love missed the final three preseason games with similar foot soreness. The Cavs have since confirmed that news.
Kevin Love is out tonight against the Pistons with what the Cavs are calling left foot soreness. They are 0-4 and going to play the Pistons on a back to back. I cannot imagine a worse start to this season — loses and Love injury, even if it’s minor
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) October 25, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Detroit is riding a wave, looking fully healthy and loaded. Griffin is playing some of the best basketball of his career, averaging 36.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Andre Drummond, who was ejected last game against the Sixers for a bogus technical, has looked relatively out of sync but should get a juicy matchup against Cleveland. The Cavaliers have not started 0-4 since the 2003-2004 season, when some guy named LeBron James was a rookie. That team ended up 40-42 under then head coach Paul Silas. This Cleveland team is likely not so fortunate. Without Love, who is Cleveland’s leading scorer, this game could get ugly in favor of the Pistons. This could provide some rest for Griffin, who is averaging nearly 38 minutes per game. If Detroit does blow it open, the Cavaliers could give a boatload a minutes to their rookie point guard Collin Sexton. That could make it a little fun, at the very least. Pistons should win easily, and are favored by 9.5 points. (Featured Image by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty)