The Cleveland Cavaliers walked out of Little Caesars Arena facing a 2-0 deficit, but Jarrett Allen made it clear after Thursday night’s 107-97 loss that panic was not part of the conversation.
Instead, the Cavaliers center pointed directly at execution, pace and effort after Detroit controlled key stretches late to protect home court in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“We come into every game utmost confidence in ourselves, utmost confidence in everything that this organization does, how we prep for games,” Allen said. “Winning on the road in the playoffs is tough. That’s just proven throughout the history of the NBA.”
Detroit’s balanced attack again gave Cleveland problems. Cade Cunningham finished with 25 points and 10 assists, Tobias Harris added 21 points, and Duncan Robinson knocked down five 3-pointers as the top-seeded Pistons won their fifth straight playoff game.
The Cavaliers briefly grabbed momentum early in the fourth quarter when Evan Mobley’s dunk gave Cleveland its first lead since the opening possession, but the Pistons answered immediately and closed the game on a decisive run.
Allen said the Cavaliers continue putting themselves behind because of avoidable mistakes.
“I think it’s just us making a lot of mistakes,” Allen said. “It’s just a lot of times we speed ourselves up. We don’t play our basketball. We start out slow and those things compound in the things that don’t win on the road.”
Cleveland’s offense stalled late again. The Cavs missed all 11 of their 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter, while James Harden finished with just 10 points on 3-for-13 shooting and committed four turnovers.
Donovan Mitchell, who scored 31 points, echoed Allen’s assessment of Cleveland’s struggles.
“I think the biggest thing starts with just it’s our self-inflicted,” Mitchell said. “I feel like it’s turnovers. The little things, little details on a lot of the stuff is self-inflicted.”
Allen was one of the few Cavaliers who consistently produced offensively. He scored 22 points on 7-for-9 shooting while adding seven rebounds after struggling in Game 1.
After the loss, Allen also defended Mobley when asked about the All-Star forward finishing with only one rebound despite playing 36 minutes.
“The stat sheet, I mean, one rebound isn’t a lot, but the impact that he had on the glass was a lot more than that,” Allen said. “He took himself out of a lot of the plays to try to make sure that somebody else got the defensive rebound.”
Allen pointed to Cleveland’s team rebounding distribution as evidence of Mobley’s impact.
“There’s a reason why the smalls have six, five, and four,” Allen said. “So, I feel like we look at a stat sheet and say, ‘Oh, he had one.’ But there’s a reason why other guys had many rebounds.”
The Cavaliers showed signs of offensive rhythm during the third quarter when they increased tempo and attacked before Detroit’s defense could get organized.
Mitchell said that pace remains critical heading into Game 3 in Cleveland.
“You can’t match up in transition,” Mitchell said. “It’s a lot of scrambling. So, setting that tone early.”
Allen also addressed Cleveland’s defensive problems against Tobias Harris, who repeatedly found space in the midrange and on post turnarounds.
“We got to do more,” Allen said. “He’s excellent from where he’s catching the ball. He’s excellent on his turnaround jumpers. We just got to put more energy and effort into it.”
Now the series shifts to Cleveland on Saturday, where the Cavaliers went 4-0 against Toronto in the opening round and will try to avoid falling into a nearly impossible 3-0 deficit.
