The Detroit Pistons and the Cleveland Cavaliers will play game two of their series Wednesday night. The Cavaliers won game one in a close contest, and one of the big keys in that game was the play of Kevin Love. Love had a monster double-double of 28 points and 13 rebounds, so going into game two, the Pistons need to change something up on him.
The Pistons don't play a true power forward most of the time, so Love is likely to have a size advantage on whoever is guarding him. In game one, it was a mixture of Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris who got the defensive assignment, and they have a plan to slow him down in game two.
"Maybe rough him up a little bit," Morris said. "He had a good game the first game. We definitely took it a little disrespectful. So I think we're definitely going to push up a little harder on him, maybe foul him a little harder, things like that."
Morris also went on to say that Love's confidence was too high and that they allowed him to get too comfortable right from the start of game one. Harris echoed Morris' sentiments for the most part, as he agreed that getting more physical with Love could be a key. Harris admitted that the assignment for both him and Morris will be tough but added that their job is to make Love to take tough shots.
Morris had himself a great game offensively in the series opener, as he dropped 20 points, but it's the defensive end of the floor that will be key considering how potent the Cavaliers offense can be. In game one, Cleveland had all three of their stars playing great, and if that continues, the Pistons will be hard pressed to prolong this series. With that in mind, the plan to get more physical with Love is a good one; whether it will work or not remains to be seen.
The Pistons showed in game one that they can certainly hang with the class of the East, but it is now a matter of whether they can do it consistently. Harris struggled in his first ever playoff game on Sunday, as he was being guarded by LeBron James for the majority of the game, but he is going into game two with a must-win attitude. If the Pistons are going to pull off this upset, they need to win at least one on the road, so Harris' thought process is "why not game two?" More importantly, though, Detroit needs to show Wednesday night that game one was not a fluke and that they can compete with the Cavaliers night-in and night-out.
