Can the Pistons take out the top-seeded Cavs?
EAST: IND vs. TOR I CHA vs. MIA I BOS vs. ATL
WEST: POR vs. LAC I HOU vs. GS I OKC vs. DAL I MEM vs. SAN
One hundred seventy miles of nondescript Lake Erie shoreline separates Cleveland and Detroit, and the Nos. 1 and 8 seeds in the NBA's Eastern Conference playoffs.
| Record | ORtg | DRtg | Net | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cavaliers | 57-25 | 108.1 (4th) | 102.3 (10th) | 5.8 (4th) |
| Pistons | 44-38 | 103.3 (14th) | 103.4 (15th) | -0.2 (15th) |
The fact the Pistons went 3-1 against the Cavs this season - along with intangibles like Detroit being coached by Stan Van Gundy - have some envisioning a possible upset. It's worth remembering that only five times in NBA history has a No. 8 seed taken out the top team in the first round - although two of those occasions came in the last five years.
Since Tyronn Lue took over from David Blatt as Cavaliers coach in January, only the Golden State Warriors have been a more efficient team offensively. For the Pistons to have a chance, they're going to need to thwart that, be it by forcing bad looks from outside, or going the other way, continuing their dominance on the offensive boards.
All about Andre
Offensive rebounds are the Pistons ace in the hole. Detroit had the second-best rebounding percentage across the board this NBA season, anchored in the middle by Andre Drummond. In the two games the Pistons' starters defeated the Cavs (the meaningless season finale doesn't count because everyone sat), they outrebounded Cleveland 17-8 on the offensive glass.
The flip side is that with higher stakes, the Cavaliers are a pretty good team on the boards as well, and have their own offensive rebounding specialist in Tristan Thompson. If Detroit has any hope in this series, they'll need to recreate one win in particular four times over the next two weeks: A 96-88 victory over the Cavs on Feb. 22. Drummond had one of his most efficient games of the season, and the Pistons imposed their pace and spread the ball around.
- With h/t to Detroit Bad Boys
Realistically speaking, however, the Cavaliers being eliminated would be a massive upset given the circumstances. LeBron James has never lost a series in the first round of the postseason. Conventional wisdom says substantial roster changes are coming for the Cavs if they don't win it all this year, so going down in Round 1 would break a lot of things, Twitter included.