Cavaliers Need Major Changes After Falling Behind 2-0 to Pistons

The Detroit Pistons took a commanding 2-0 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers after a massive 107-97 win in game two. Cade Cunningham came through in the clutch for Detroit, the exact opposite of what occurred for the Cavs on the road.

Donovan Mitchell didn’t have a bad game two, but wasn’t able to get it going from beyond the arc. The real issue came from James Harden. In his age-36 season, Cleveland actually expected to get really playoff value out of Harden.

I feel a good description of Harden’s entire game came through with 40 seconds in the 4th quarter. Harden walked it up the floor, dribbled out the entire shot clock down six points, then immediately turned the ball over. You can live with Harden being a traffic cone on defense when he turns it up on offense, but he was simply the worst Cleveland player on both ends of the floor. He finished 3/13 from the field and had 4 horrible turnovers to go along with it.

Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson has been the worst coach in two straight series to start the playoffs, and if he wants to change things, he might have to make an insane move and bench Harden. I would love to see Harden contribute as an off-ball catch-and-shoot player, but he can’t seem to even accomplish that. If that’s the case, you might as well just try Craig Porter Jr. to see if he can provide energy.

I’m not sure if Cleveland is truly even dead in this series. Of course, they haven’t found any way to win on the road in the playoffs (0-5 thus far), but Detroit hasn’t wowed me with anything they’ve done. The Pistons' defense has been aggressive and limited what Cleveland wanted to do, but the Cavs have played right into it. They’ve slowed the game down and relied on isolation, or high pick-n-roll offense right at half court, and it’s been insanely ugly for Cleveland.

Two things have to change for the Cavs. They need to get to the basket. In the third quarter, they made a run to make things interesting, then went right back to isolation basketball, zero ball movement, and James Harden starting the offense with 10 seconds left on the shot clock.

However, more important than that, they’ve simply got to make shots. They were 7/32 from three, while Detroit was 14/28. That’s the ball game. I have no idea why Atkinson continually blitzes Cunningham, which allows Detroit to finish a possession with a wide-open three. This is a bad defensive unit that struggles to make the right rotations. Quit overhelping; you’re letting a bad-shooting Pistons team get into a rhythm with easy catch-and-shoot threes.

Rebuilding in basketball is painful, but I’m not sure this Cavs team will ever be a real contender. Even if you somehow manage to get out of this round, you’re still left with a very flawed roster. Cleveland will have some tough decisions this offseason, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re seeing the last few games of this core in Cleveland.