Home good for Pistons again

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

— Brandon Knight scored 17 points, Kyle Singler and Tayshaun Prince each had 15 and the Detroit Pistons beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 89-79 on Monday night for their fifth consecutive home victory.

Detroit is 1-10 on the road but 5-3 at home, and the Pistons have recovered a bit after losing their first eight games of the season. They beat Phoenix by 40 last week in their previous home game, and the victory over Cleveland wasn’t really as close as the score indicated.

Detroit led 56-39 at halftime after holding the Cavaliers to 29 percent shooting.

Cleveland was without guard Dion Waiters, who sat out with a sprained left ankle. Anderson Varejao had 17 points and 18 rebounds for the Cavs.

The Cavaliers had scored 113 and 117 points in their previous two games, but the Pistons shut them down for the most part. Jason Maxiell and rookie Andre Drummond set the tone on a night Detroit would block 13 shots. The Cavs struggled to convert around the basket, and they went 3 of 20 from three point range.

A dunk by Maxiell put the Pistons ahead 14-4, and it was 30-17 after the first quarter.

Rodney Stuckey’s layup off a nice pass from Brandon Knight made it 49-27, and although Cleveland chipped away at the deficit, Stuckey’s floater to end the third quarter made it 75-63.

Sports, Pages 22 on 12/04/2012