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Well, that was more interesting than I think most were expecting.
The Pistons gave the Cavaliers one hell of a scare, but strong play from the Cavaliers big three pushed Cleveland over the top to give them a 106-101 win in Game 1.
The Pistons shot the lights out of the ball, finishing 15-29 from three in the game, despite only shooting 34.5 percent on the season. The Cavaliers clearly were invested in blowing up the Reggie Jackson-Andre Drummond pick and roll and it was mostly effective, but playing a numbers game burned the Cavaliers in this one.
That's not to say they necessarily need to overreact and blow up the game plan. The Cavs roared through the East last season by ignoring bad shooters on opposing teams. This time it burned them.
Kevin Love played one of his best games of the year, actively seeking the ball in the post against the smaller Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris, and made he most of his opportunities, finishing with 28 points and 13 rebounds in the game.
Kyrie Irving was electric at times despite a shaky start, and put the Cavaliers squarely back in the game at the start of the second half, finishing with 31 and 6.
There's not much more you can say about LeBron James, who was electric in this game. He was an active and engaged screener and sucked in the Detroit defense every time he was the central focus of the action. Unfortunately, no other Cavalier scored in double figures in this one, and the bench units could have used Channing Frye.
Frye was, much to most of Cavs Twitter's dismay, nailed to the bench the entire night. Tyronn Lue played Timofey Mozgov in stretches and even with small with Iman Shumpert at the four. I'm not sure what the justification is for Frye's absence, as he's fit very well as a Cavalier so far. Who knows.
On balance, it was a strong, resilient win for the Cavaliers. The Pistons shooters took advantage of the game plan, and it'll be interesting to see to what extent the Cavaliers and their coaching staff will adjust.
Game 2 is on Wednesday on TNT. This is fun.