Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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Another night, another loss- and another ping pong ball in the hopper. Cleveland dropped its fifth in a row Wednesday night; Detroit rolling to an 87-75 victory over the cold-shooting Cavaliers at the Q. Cleveland has now been beaten by double digits in four consecutive games and hasn’t scored more than 85 points in any of them. Since beating these same Pistons a month ago on Kyrie Irving’s late free throws, the Cavaliers are 4-14. Pro-tankers, rejoice!

Clang… Clang… Clang: Cleveland’s hopes for victory Wednesday night drowned in a sea of bricks. The Cavaliers shot a frosty 34.5 percent, and the individual percentages were brutal across the board. Of the ten men who got into the game only Samardo Samuels made more than half of his attempts, and he only took three (making two.) Kyrie Irving hit 9-of-19; Antawn Jamison hit 7-of-21; Tristan Thompson hit 3-of-12; Alonzo Gee hit 1-of-6; Manny Harris hit 3-of-10, and so on and so forth. And this wasn’t one of those nights where shots are rimming out. Most of the misses were hand grenades that knocked paint off the rims.

That’s Not All: When the Cavaliers weren’t missing shots they were losing the ball or getting it swatted back in their faces. Cleveland committed 15 turnovers and had 11 shots blocked Wednesday night. (It only seemed as if Tristan Thompson suffered all 11 of those blocks.) It was pretty much a terrible effort all the way around when it came to the offensive end.

Youngsters vs. Youngsters: Matchups between lottery teams usually aren’t “billed” as anything, but if Wednesday’s tilt had a billing, it was as a battle between the young inside-outside combos of Greg Monroe and Brandin Knight for the Pistons, and Tristan Thompson and Kyrie Irving for the Cavaliers. Statistically it finished as basically a draw. Monroe shot 4-of-13 and finished with eight points, ten rebounds, two blocks, two steals and two assists; Thompson shot 3-of-12 and finished with nine points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and a steal. Knight shot 7-of-15 and finished with 16 points and five assists; Kyrie shot 9-of-19 and finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Long Way to Go: I think Tristan Thompson has a fairly bright future as a defender and shot-blocker. But as of right now- and maybe for the foreseeable future- he is absolutely heinous as an offensive player. He can’t shoot, can barely dribble and because he has the habit of bringing the ball down below his waist every time he gets it, he’s constantly either getting it ripped out of his grasp or rejected on its way to the hoop. It’s a train wreck every time the kid gets his hands on the ball down low. How can you shoot 3-of-12 when you’re never more than four feet from the basket?

Ghost of Better Days: The man of the match wasn’t any of the young up-and-comers. It was Tayshaun Prince, the rail-thin reminder of the days when Detroit was a perennial title contender. Prince tied his season high with 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting- including a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range- added eight rebounds and three assists, and smothered Alonzo Gee, holding him to just one field goal and three points. The veteran from Kentucky scored 13 points in three minutes late in the second period, keying a Detroit binge that broke a 32-32 tie and gave the Pistons the lead for good.

Now for the Good News: Wednesday’s loss dropped the Cavaliers (17-31) percentage points behind the Pistons (18-32) in the overall standings. Cleveland now owns the seventh-worst record in the NBA, and not by a long shot- the Cavaliers are one game ahead of the Kings (17-33), a game-and-a-half ahead of the Raptors (17-34) and two ahead of New Jersey (17-35). The way things are going it’s very much conceivable that Cleveland could finish the season with the fourth-worst record in the Association, which bodes well for their Lottery chances.

Next: Friday night at 7:30, when the Bucks come to the Q.