The Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers are playing live on the NBA schedule as the regular season ends and the game starts at 7 pm ET from Quicken Loans Arena as LeBron James and the Cavs get things going against Greg Monroe and Reggie Jackson and this matchup comes as the Cavaliers have clinched the number two seed in the east.
The Cavaliers come in after a loss against the Celtics and they have lost two straight games coming in. The team is locked into the second seed and they are the winners of the Central Division and they will be matching up with either the Celtics or the Nets in the number seven seed. The team had won four straight games before losing to the Celtics and that helped the team clinch and as the season ends, the Cavs are starting to rest players.
The Cavaliers have been one of the best teams at home all season and that could be huge for the team come the playoffs. The team will have home advantage in the first two rounds and unless they face the Hawks, they will get it into the NBA finals. The Cavs feel that they have clicked at the right time and it comes as they have been the best team in the east during this second half stretch and at home they have been very hard to beat.
The offense has been playing much better, as NBA.com reports that the team has only lost once in the last 27 games when the team scores 100 points. The team has only lost five games of 45 this season when doing that and now they matchup with the Pistons. The Cavs defense has been much stronger than earlier in the season and they have only allowed three of the last 11 teams they have played to reach 100 points.
Detroit has been playing better over the second half of the season, but they once again will miss the playoffs. Monroe and Andre Drummond are the players to watch for the Cavs, as the Pistons have gotten 17.7 points with 15.6 rebounds per game from Drummond in the last 11. The team had its biggest win of the season over the Hornets and now they face one of the toughest teams in the Cavs.
The Cavs are one of the favorites in the east this season and if they matchup against the Hawks, it should be a very tough series with Atlanta playing so well all year. The Hawks have slumped a bit and they could have a tough first round matchup, just like they were last season for the Pacers.
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