Cavs vs. Pistons: preview, chances of winning, injury report, television

Cleveland, Ohio – the cavs run on steam.

After completing a strenuous 10-day road trip with five games on the west coast, they hardly had time to breathe before they immersed them back into the chaos.

On Wednesday from 6 a.m., a short new calibration into the eastern time, a fight against the Spurs on Thursday and then a flight after the game to Detroit for a collision with the pistons in the Little Caesars Arena on Friday. Tipoff is set for Eastern for 7 p.m.

It is the relentless schedule that tests every ounce of endurance of a team and forces the players to dig deeply with only nine games in the regular season.

“We were there for the first four days to the west, we were in the air for three days,” said Kenny Atkinson, head coach of Cavs, before the Matchup on Thursday with San Antonio. “So it’s just a part of it. You have to preach the boys, get your rest, make your recovery, take care of your bodies as well as you. It sounds kitschy, sounds like I was like your father, but that’s really the reality if you are in a track.”

The cavs that sit at 59-14 have more than just tired to master-sie, have a top seeds to close. Their magical number is five, which means that a strong finish in the playoffs of the Eastern Conference would guarantee the advantage of home.

But the pistons, currently fifth, also have a lot at stake.

After the bucks in the heels in sixth and the Pacers at the fourth seeds were only in the foreground, Detroit fights to maintain his position and maintain a series of the first round against Indiana. A potential showdown with Cleveland in the semi -finals of the Eastern Conference also appears.

However, Detroit will not be full of strength.

Cade Cunningham, the heartbeat of the crime, stays out of the way with a left -wing calf cladding while Jaden Ivey is traveling with a fibula fracture. Without a real secondary creator, the pistons rely on their 3-point shooting one of the top 10 of the league in the last 10 games and a defense that is anchored by a familiar face: JB Bickerstaff.

Bickerstaffs fingerprints are everywhere in this piston team. His defensive philosophies, which shape the same, which form the cavs into a top unit, are now refueling Detroit.

The Matchup between the defensive style of Bickerstaff and the offensive way of thinking of Atkinson gives what has become quietly becoming a burgeoning rivalry, one that could explode if these teams meet in the playoffs.

Before this can happen, a final matchup of the regular season is.

The Cavs drive a winning stroke with 12 games over the pistons. But in her last meeting in the Little Caesars Arena it took a Darius Garland near Halb Court to save an ugly fourth quarter for the cavs and keep the strip against Detroit alive.

The game on Friday will be a battle of willpower.

For the Cavs, it is about splitting out of exhaustion and expanding their hold at the top of the east.

For the pistons, it is a chance to prove that you can go from head to toe with an elite candidate, even without your franchise player.

And for both teams it is a look at what could only wait a few weeks if the missions are the highest.