AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Pistons have looked like a good basketball team since Christmas.
On Tuesday, they got a lesson on the difference between good and great.
Detroit led Cleveland 62-53 at the half, then moved the margin to 14 points in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
That was when Cavaliers coach David Blatt called a timeout and his team made a decision.
"We knew we needed to wake up because Detroit is playing well and they were starting to take the game away from us," he said. "Our guys made up their minds in that huddle that we were going to start playing the way we've been playing for the last several weeks, and the game changed right there."
Over the next 16 minutes, Cleveland outscored the Pistons 46-11 and ended up posting an easy 102-93 victory. The Cavaliers have now won 17 of 19 as LeBron James has found a comfort level with Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and Timofey Mozgov.
"That was an eye-opener for our team," James said. "That's a very good team over there, and we can't just take wins for granted. Defense is our speciality, and we weren't playing any until we got after them in the third quarter. We have to learn from this game."
The Pistons are in the middle of reinventing their roster for the fourth time this season, with Reggie Jackson playing his second game and Tayshaun Prince his first with Detroit in more than two years.
But coach Stan Van Gundy wasn't going to use that as an excuse.
"I don't think it was a chemistry issue," he said. "We just weren't very strong against their pressure in those 18 minutes. I saw some really promising things for this team in the first 30 minutes, but we've had trouble when teams put pressure on us. We've got to handle the ball better and make stronger moves."
Prince moved the clock back 10 years, holding James to 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting and forcing him into nine turnovers. Unfortunately for Detroit, there was no way to take away his court vision, which led to 11 assists, many of which led to open 3-pointers for Kevin Love. Love went 8-for-14 from behind the arc, tying a career high.
"Kevin had it going tonight, so I was looking to get him the ball," James said. "That's how we play. Find the hot guy and keep him going."
While James' passes helped Cleveland pull away in the second half, his biggest one of the night came midway through the second quarter. He found Love for another 3-pointer for the 3,135th assist of his career, breaking Scottie Pippen's NBA record for forwards.
"That means a tremendous amount to me because I have always taken so much pride in my passing game." James said. "To me, the greatest rush has always been helping my teammates succeed, not succeeding myself."
For the second time in the last month, the Cavaliers gave the Pistons a lesson in what it takes to be a top team in the NBA. They aren't going to reach that level this season, but that wasn't the point. This is a team building for the future.
