The short-handed Detroit Pistons made a late run at taking a preseason victory on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers. After falling behind by double digits early, the Pistons clawed their way back to lead in the second half.
But, despite 19 points each from veteran forward Tobias Harris and two-way guard Daniss Jenkins, the Pistons dropped their second straight preseason matchup, 118-100, Tuesday night.
Without guards Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Caris LeVert available for the game, the Pistons tried to work in the paint early with Harris and a debuting Jalen Duren.
The pair found some opportunities, but struggled to finish at the rim, resulting in seven of the Pistons’ first 12 points coming from the foul line.
Starting forward Ausar Thompson struggled out of the gate with three fouls and two turnovers before making his first shot as the Pistons ballooned out to a 15-point deficit.
It was Ron Holland to spark the team first going on a personal 6-0 run after entering off the bench and scoring a team-high 11 points in the first half.
Thompson started putting things together toward the end of the first quarter scoring on consecutive transition opportunities and carried that over into a hot start to the second quarter by setting up Chaz Lanier and Duren for quick buckets.
Before fouling out in the third quarter, Thompson totaled nine points, five rebounds, four assists, a block and steal.
The Pistons opened on a 12-2 run in the second quarter to close the gap to one point and took their first lead of the night off a deep three from Jenkins that bounced off the rim and the glass a couple times before settling into the net.
Led by 15 points from Donovan Mitchell and 14 from De’Andre Hunter, the Cavaliers managed to keep some distance at the half. With the teams combining for 29 turnovers, Cleveland had the 62-57 edge at halftime.
Back from the break, the Pistons locked in defensively. At one point holding the Cavaliers without a field goal make for over five minutes, the Pistons regained a brief lead thanks to a 12-point third quarter out of Harris.
But the Detroit offense struggled late in the period, going 1-for-7 from the field down the stretch and fell behind 86-77 going into the final 12 minutes.
The Pistons relied on the deeper parts of their bench for much of the fourth quarter, leaning on Jenkins and fellow two-way player Tolu Smith to generate some offense.
Jenkins posted nine of his 19 points for the night in the final quarter, adding six assists and shooting 83.3% from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Detroit couldn’t match Cleveland in the last period and failed to erase a growing deficit, dropping them to 1-2 in preseason play with one game remaining.
BOX SCORE
Up next: The Pistons will finish out the preseason making their first appearance at Little Caesars Arena to face the Washington Wizards.
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