Despite some changes during the off-season, the Detroit Pistons have yet to show that they are able to compete with other playoff teams. Thus, Ben Gordon and the Pistons will host the Cleveland Cavaliers at Auburn Hills on Thursday at 1 a.m. GMT.

Although the Cavs came slow out of the gates, the team around reigning MVP LeBron James seems to have finally found its rhythm. More precisely, the Cavaliers managed to win seven out of their last eight games and are on their way back to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. Much like in the past, LeBron James carried his team more often than not and averaged 29.4 points, 8.1 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per contest. Likewise, Mo Williams three-point shooting has been spot on so far as the 26-year old point guard put up 17.3 points, 4.6 assists and 3.1 rebounds while shooting 48% from beyond the arc.

In contrast, the Pistons are not overly excited about their performance in the first three weeks of play. Only winning 5 out of 13 games, Detroit struggled to find the basket and was limited to 92 points per game. In fact, the team around Ben Gordon lost four straight last week and finds itself alarmingly close to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. That said, the Pistons are still without Rip Hamilton who is nursing an ankle injury. Taking said circumstances into consideration, the Cavaliers will enter their encounter with Detroit as everyone’s favorite to clinch a road win on Thursday night. Although the Cavs will most likely be without Shaquille O’Neal, they can count on a well functioning unit and a fairly deep bench. Likewise, LeBron James has shown countless times that he is able to single-handedly decide a game on a good night.

You can watch all games of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.

Posted: 24 Apr 2009

Given the fact that the struggling Pistons were completely outplayed by the Cavaliers in game one, most experts were expecting a similar performance from the team around multiple all-star Lebron James in the second game. During the first three quarters that was just what happened, however the last twelve minutes took away some of the credit the Cavs had built up. Holding a comfortable 29-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Pistons’ backup players made a run and all the sudden Cleveland was only up 84-77 with four minutes left to play. However, all that will be remembered is that Lebron James came back on the floor to close out the game and clinch a 94-82 win.

Thus, the Cavaliers will make their way to Motor City to take on Detroit on their home court on Friday at midnight GMT. There are many question marks surrounding the Pistons team, especially the inconsistency of their starters who were supposed to carry the team. Tayshaun Prince had only 4 and 2 points respectively in the first two games which makes him subject to harsh criticism considering that he played for the American national team during the Olympics in Beijing last year.  Likewise, if the Pistons want to avoid a first round exit Rasheed Wallace will have to step up and knock down shots, another 8-point performance will not be enough to scare the Cavaliers.

Cleveland on the other hand is in an excellent position to advance to the second round if they can come away with a win in one of the two road games in Detroit. Taking into consideration that they held the Pistons to slightly over 80 points a game, any droughts on the offensive end of the floor appear to be minor issues. In fact, the undisputed leader of the team Lebron James did not even have to play heavy minutes in the first two games and therefore can be expected to return with a lot of energy in game three on Friday.  You can watch this basketball game right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of live NBA streaming.