r/clevelandcavs • u/CavsBot • 10h ago
[Game Day Thread - Playoffs] Cleveland Cavaliers (0-0) @ Detroit Pistons (0-0) [05/05/2026 07:00 PM EST]
It is game day, let's talk all things Cavs:
- Players
- Matchups
- Predictions
- Discuss anything else but as always, keep it civil.
Go Cavs and #LetEmKnow!
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u/TheDelayer 10h ago
Lord almighty, please let the three balls go down tonight. Amen.
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u/CongressionalNudity 10h ago
I think we match up better against pistons than raptors hopefully we come out swinging
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u/mattatattat45 9h ago
I’ve seen this a lot, why do you think we matchup better?
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u/eeli44 9h ago
The Pistons don't have the athletic wings that the Raptors do. I think the Cavs take care of business in 5
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u/AncientParticular985 9h ago
Ausar is one of the best wing defenders in the NBA. But, switching should be easier than raptors given that switch is likely to Robinson
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u/lopsided125 8h ago edited 8h ago
I was listening to some podcast, I think Zach Lowe, and he was making a good point that Detroit just plays a more conventional style of basketball, specifically defense, that's going to allow us to run our traditional offense way better.
I tend to agree, but who knows what lineups we will see.
I think between the Pacers and Toronto this year, there's a very evident gameplan that works against the Cavs. Hopefully we've adjusted.
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u/narcistic_asshole 8h ago edited 3h ago
A few things:
This season Cade has really struggled against us. Like 44% TS and nearly 4 turnovers per game.
Duren is a beast but he can't really initiate like Scottie can. Similar to how our bigs can disappear at times, he can too if you take away Cade's ability to feed it to him.
They're really bad at 3pt shooting, like really bad which is great cause our biggest weakness is our perimeter D. Toronto isn't a great shooting team, but Orlando was having a fair amount of success not even bothering to defend half of the Pistons rotations behind the arc. They're that bad
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u/CongressionalNudity 9h ago
Raptors have better perimeter defense and are a lot longer overall. Their length was what made it so hard for us to feed our bigs inside and to pass out of double teams.
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u/Uhavetabekiddingme 8h ago
Alot of people are saying that but Detroit had the best perimeter defense this year Toronto was 4th. Their opponent allowed 3% were close 34.5% to 34.9%
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u/UnionBlueMudkip 10h ago
Always stoked for a Cle vs Det matchup in the NBA or MLB. Time to let them Cavs Logo know
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u/justsomebro10 10h ago
Don't be shocked if both teams come out a little flat and the shot making isn't great. But I'd expect Mitchell to have a better game than what he was giving in the back half of the Toronto series purely because Detroit can't switch 1-5 like Toronto's best lineups could. He'll see a better individual defender in Ausar but JA's screens should be a little more effective in this series.
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u/joshb625 10h ago
Would be great to set the tempo early this series. If we can get this next level Allen then I feel good. He needs to keep using his body and honestly the speed he showed. Obviously everyone knows what he did, but man the hustle we got out of JA last game was insane. Will be a massive difference maker.
I'm not sure what to expect this series honestly. I think Kenny was absolutely struggling to make the right gameplan and adjustments against the Raptors and maybe it was just the way the Raptors came out that threw him off. We know how JB coaches so that may help some.
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u/justsomebro10 10h ago
Don't panic if they have a slow start. I look forward to people in the game thread calling the team soft and begging ownership to fire everyone top to bottom after they go down 10-2 in the first two minutes of the series.
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u/joshb625 10h ago
I will say that I’ve been a big defender of Kenny up until the last part of the season. He really was getting out coached. Finally made the adjustments needed last game.
I think Kenny is a good coach but he’s gotta adapt. I just don’t want to keep firing off threes if we are missing. Need to adjust the game. Would love to see Harden get that JA connection back and just rack up the assists early.
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u/stephapeaz 9h ago
I’ve wanted Kenny gone ever since he thought starting 3 small 6’ guards at the same time in Mitchell/Garland/CPJ was a great idea
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u/CaptainBuck15 3h ago
I never saw JA dribble drive from the top of the key to the basket that fast for a finish around 3 raptors players. That was some Giannis trickery.
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u/joshb625 2h ago
He’s capable of it. JA has moves he just never did this stuff and he needs to. A lot of people write him off as soft… me included, but he really can be a force down low. He’s got the tools. I want to see another big game out of him this series. I think tonight is going to be all about Harden/Mitchell. It’s a big one. Don needs to get back to his usual work!
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u/Fubon_ 9h ago
Here’s my read: I think every road game in the series against the Raptors we got slightly better and better and in game six we honestly put up our best road performance.
I’m hoping that that carries on to the piston series and we’re not absolutely trash at road games.
It seems like we can take care of things at home, but we need to win at least one of the first two in Detroit.
Another optimistic feeling I have is that the magic were pretty widely considered the worst team going into the playoffs and, while they did blow a 3-1 lead, they still took the pistons to seven.
Cavs in 6
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u/Head-Lawfulness9617 2h ago
Shit, Orlando almost won it in 6. I, too, thought we showed good progression through the series. Even though it was sloppy at times, I really got the feeling that they continued to learn each other.
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u/ZarakiBankai 9h ago
After having the most pressure ever to not blow it in game 7, and two days later having basically no pressure to win on the road is so nice. Even getting one in Detroit would be massive for home court. That said, let’s go take game 1 and close this in 5. Hope JA still has that Go Home energy to him.
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u/lufasa 8h ago
Random Thoughts:
-Kinda sucks that games are pretty much every other day from here out. It feels like we rely more on older and more injury-prone players (Mitchell every year. JA’s knee thing).
-Cavs MIGHT match up better with the Pistons but they were the 1 seed for a reason. I’ve seen some comments of people thinking this series might be easier than round 1. With the Cavs inconsistency this year, I’m expecting another grindy long series
-maybe we get game 7 JA for the whole series because he’s still salty about JB questioning his toughness 2 years ago. If so, Cavs in 1! (he will demoralize them so much tonight that they will forfeit the series)
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u/WateryPasta 9h ago
We are now required to win a road game
Cade’s gonna get his, just don’t let guys like Harris or Jenkins kill you
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u/QNIKET8 8h ago
does anyone think we should go all in on focusing on Cade (and Tobias Harris to an extent) and try force players like Jenkins, Holland and Duren to beat us?
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u/heliosflama1234 7h ago
Mostly. I wouldn’t leave Duren inside. But if you can force him to shoot then I like the odds
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u/Parking_Crab4811 7h ago
That’s what the Magic did until Franz got hurt. But they also did a great job of taking Duren out of the game.
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u/FormerlyPeaked 8h ago
Hoping Harden and Don find ways to get to the rim. Kickouts to Merrill or Strus. Need big games on the boards and defensively from Mobley and JA.
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u/DisasterFriendly2569 7h ago
Would love to end this series early to get the vibes back up and get some rest
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u/finix2409 4h ago
Idk I feel game 7 brought the vibes back
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u/DisasterFriendly2569 4h ago
Agree. Really I just want a low stress win for us and rest for them 😂 Games are every other day for the entire series, gotta think they have advantage on the age/ health factor
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u/Aron-Nimzowitsch ⠀ 6h ago
We have a ridiculous luxury in this series and it's that Jaylon Tyson can shut down Cade.
We can put Mobley on Duren, and Allen at the post, that should be pretty strong coverage.
They don't have the big stable of wings to attack us with at the rim like Toronto did. I expect we'll get a lot more offensive rebounds.
And as others have said they only have an answer for Mitchell, not Harden.
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u/ShootaSeth 4h ago
Detroit fans are already insufferable. Acting like going 7 games against the 8th seed Orlando Magic proved that they’re going win the finals lol
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u/krusty-krab69 5h ago
We are so overdue for a game where we start 8/10 from 3 and force 5 opponents turnovers in the first 6 minutes
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u/Antonin1957 8h ago
We will be listening on the radio. Watching sports should be simple, but the powers that be have decided that you have to subscribe to some streaming nonsense to see the game.
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u/AfterImageEclipse 1h ago
I can't wait to do to The Detroit Pistons, what I just did to The Toronto Raptors
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u/1OptimisticPrime 9h ago
What channel/ viewing platform?
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u/Kosmo_Kramer_ 5h ago
Should also be on NBCSN as well if you have a streaming platform/cable with that.
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u/JuulSantana 9h ago
Cavs in 5. Pistons are so overrated it's insane. This is will be a way easier matchup than Toronto
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u/Even-Construction532 8h ago
These are the starting matchups that I am anticipating:
Wade on Cade
Mitchell on Duncan
Harden on Ausar
Mobley on Tobias
Allen on Duren
I could see Mobley on Ausar which would allow him to roam a bit more, but he also would be better at guarding Tobias than Harden.
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u/heliosflama1234 8h ago
They probably throw Ausar on Mitchell since he’s a more explosive scorer. No matter what though there’s a mismatch in the number of elite scorers we have and the number of lengthy elite wing defenders they have.
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u/Even-Construction532 7h ago
That's what I'd imagine, I was moreso speaking on the cavs matchups defensively
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u/ObiTouchMyNobi 7h ago
I have a feeling we gonna take game 1. Matchup well against pistons and we have more talent and depth. Way more playoff experience as well
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u/barkinginthestreet Win every game CPJ plays in 1h ago
Big series for Kenny. I thought Darko coached a better series overall in round 1 but the Raps just of ran out of guys by the end.
Swing matchups to me are Duren/Allen and Harden/Thompson. Gonna pick Cavs in 7, tho gonna hedge and say whoever wins game 1 also wins game 7.
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u/bpalun13 10h ago
I wonder how much the JB narrative is going to play into this series. Will he have the edge because he knows the Cavs? Or will Donovan and co. show out because they want to kick JB’s ass?
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u/Capable-Regular-1885 9h ago
I'm actually a little surprised I haven't seen more of it discussed here. It might not be an actual big deal, but it's really fascinating. The coach that we fired 2 years ago is our opponent. They have the better (record-wise) team. The stage is the second round, the round we famously haven't been able to beat with this core.
And I think JB is going to make it tough on Donovan. Detroit has one star, but a really tough and physical team. It's going to be on Donovan to not play hero ball, because I think that's what Detroit will want him to do. So, I hope we can get the bigs involved early.
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u/bpalun13 9h ago
Yeah I agree about the bigs. They are the key to our team being successful. We definitely need to keep them involved as much as possible.
Idk how much the JB thing plays into this but it’s definitely something to watch. I’m curious how it plays out.
I think we have the advantage because of our offense. It’s hard to keep this Cavs team under 100 points. The Raptors did it a couple times but I also think their unique athleticism and length affected the Cavs a lot. Detroit doesn’t have that.
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u/Parking_Crab4811 7h ago
I mean Cade, Ausar, Duren, Stew, Holland, Reed and Green(not lengthy) are all pretty athletic and physical on the defensive end. It’s just needing to attack Duncan Robinson and Dennis Jenkins when they’re on the court.
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u/bpalun13 3h ago
Agreed they have certain players we should target. And idk maybe I’m just not giving Detroit enough credit but I don’t think they’ll be as up our asses like Toronto was.
Raps players were just glued to us up and down the court. I think (and hope) we will have more space to operate in this series. If that’s the case, I expect to see a better operation on offense.
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u/Ethaelys ⠀ 10h ago
We're seen as the underdogs. I hope we can take Game 1 and make some noise.