LeBron James, Cavaliers Slide Continues with Loss to Pistons; Kevin Love Injured

Detroit has been buzzing over the past 24 hours after the Pistons traded for Blake Griffin, but the superstar wasn't made available for the team's matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena.

So Stanley Johnson stole the show instead.

The third-year forward scored a career-high 26 points, pacing the Pistons in a 125-114 victory. Johnson was superb in every aspect of the game, adding 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.

All five of the team's starters were excellent, in fact, as Andre Drummond (21 points, 22 rebounds, seven assists, three steals, three blocks), Reggie Bullock (22 points), Anthony Tolliver (20 points) and Ish Smith (19 points, seven assists) also thrived in a makeshift starting lineup that will surely look different once Griffin makes his debut and Reggie Jackson returns from his ankle injury.

Speaking of injury, the Cavaliers received potentially awful news on Tuesday night, as Kevin Love left the contest after just five minutes with a hand injury. Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com later reported that Love suffered a "non-displaced fracture in his left hand fifth metacarpal," while ESPN's Brian Windhorst added that the injury could leave Love out of action for six to eight weeks.

With Love sidelined, LeBron James (21 points, seven assists, six rebounds) and Isaiah Thomas (19 points, five assists) weren't enough to keep the Cavaliers from suffering their eighth loss in the month of January.

Channing Frye chipped in 20 points and six rebounds off the bench, while Dwyane Wade went for 18 points and eight boards. Wade also made a bit of history on the night:

But for Cleveland, Love was the story. His injury, with the All-Star break right around the corner, was a touch of deja vu for the power forward:

All isn't lost for Love and Cleveland, however, as Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reported:

While the Cavaliers search for silver linings, the Pistons have plenty to be excited about. On Monday, the team sent Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic, a protected first-round pick and a 2019 second-round selection to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Griffin, Brice Johnson and Willie Reed, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

And on Tuesday, his new teammates played one of their best games of the season and snapped an eight-game losing streak in the process:

Of course, there were two ways of looking at the final result:

For Cleveland, Tuesday night posed a whole new set of questions. How will the Cavs respond if Love misses significant time? Will it affect how active they are, or aren't, before the trade deadline? Will the Cavs be able to reverse course before the All-Star Game, or will they limp into that break and look to turn things around down the stretch?

Detroit has its own set of questions. How quickly will Griffin adjust to playing in a new city with new teammates? Will he display solid chemistry with Drummond and Jackson, the team's key players? Will the Pistons follow up the Griffin move with another deal?

Johnson may be one of the pieces the team could seek to move for more veteran help, though after Tuesday's performance, the Pistons may think twice about sending him—and the potential that was on full display against the Cavs—packing before the trade deadline.

At least on Tuesday, the Pistons' questions were laced with far more optimism than those being posed in Cleveland.

from Bleacher Report - Front Page http://ift.tt/2Eo1JZL