Detroit is the latest team to end a long losing streak against the Cavaliers.
View full sizeDetroit's Tracy McGrady snuffs out this driving flip shot by Daniel Gibson in the first half of the Pistons' 102-92 victory Sunday evening at Auburn Hills, Mich. Gibson had 12 points, but missed nine of his 13 shot attempts.AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- This is how the other half lives.
For the better part of the last seven years, the Cavaliers with LeBron James lived the high life, trouncing lesser opponents regularly, victories piling up like the snowflakes.
But with James gone to Miami, it's payback time.
When Minnesota clobbered Cleveland on Saturday night in Minneapolis, it snapped the Timberwolves' nine-game losing streak to the Cavs.
When Detroit won, 102-92, Sunday evening at The Palace, 102-92, it ended the Pistons' seven-game losing streak to the Cavs.
Don't think there weren't some smiles in the home locker rooms at what has become of the wine and gold, who lost their fourth straight game and their sixth straight on the road to fall to 7-13.
"Nobody's going to feel sorry for us," said Antawn Jamison, who again led the Cavs with 22 points. "It's a transition these guys are starting to understand. You know what? For the last five or six years, you've been pounding people, and a lot of organizations look at this as an opportunity to do the same to us. We have to understand that."
Every team is taking its best shot at the staggering Cavaliers. Sunday's effort was their best in a week, but it wasn't good enough. Cleveland was undone by four turnovers in an 11-0 run by Detroit in the third quarter and terrible shot selection in the fourth, when they made just six of 22 field goals (27.3 percent).
A perfect example of the way things are going occurred when the Pistons' 18-point lead was trimmed to 93-82 with 4:45 left. The Pistons missed two shots, but grabbed two offensive rebounds. Anthony Parker locked down Tayshaun Prince in the corner, forcing a bad shot that banged off the rim. But Rip Hamilton grabbed the offensive rebound and eventually hit a 3-pointer to restore the lead to 96-82.
"That is so demoralizing," coach Byron Scott said.
"You see a couple plays that sum up what's going on with us," Parker admitted. "When it rains, it pours. We have to change it. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We can't look for calls from the refs. It's got to be us."
Scott knows that as well as anyone.
"It has nothing to do with Xs and Os right now," he said. "It has everything to do with heart and another part of your anatomy that I can't mention...
"I don't know how many of these guys have been through this before. A lot of guys in that locker room who've been here the last five or six years haven't gone through anything like this. So they're not used to this. It's how we deal with it."
Daniel Gibson is one of those guys. He admits it. But he's trying to use this as a learning experience -- one really tough learning experience.
"We'll find out what this team is made of and what these guys are made of going through this spell," he said. "We've got to stick together and figure a way to get out of it."