NBA Playoffs: Cavaliers vs. Pistons Game 3 recap, full highlights

The Cavaliers barely survived on the road in Game 3 against the Pistons to take a 3-0 series lead

Just like in the first two games of the 2016 NBA Playoffs series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons, the No. 8 seed in the Pistons jumped out to an early lead on the defending Eastern Conference champs in the first half of Game 3, the first trip to The Palace of Auburn Hills in this series. However, the Cavaliers fought back thanks to a masterful overall performance from LeBron James and great outside shooting from Kevin Love.

Cleveland took a one-point lead over Detroit into halftime. In the two games—both won by the Cavs—back in Cleveland, the second half had been the point where the Cavaliers were able to press down on the throttle and proceed to run away from the lower seed in this series. However, that narrative wasn’t about to hold up as the Pistons traveled home.

Thanks to Andre Drummond putting in work on both ends of the floor, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope coming up with a number of big plays on both ends of the floor, and with Reggie Jackson playing arguably his best basketball of the series, Detroit was able to fight and were thoroughly in the game as they entered the heart of the fourth quarter with getting their first win of the series under their belts.

However, the Cavaliers made the smart decision to start fouling Andre Drummond about midway through the final period, which really threw Detroit out of their rhythm and then forced Stan Van Gundy to take his big man out of the game and put him on the bench.

Even still, KCP, Jackson and the Pistons continued to put up a fight. However, their effort was all for naught as the Cavs were able to hang on—including a Kyrie Irving dagger with less than a minute left—and move ahead 3-0 in the series and essentially start looking ahead to the Eastern Conference semifinals given the history of teams being up 3-0 in the postseason.

Three Stars

LeBron James, Cavaliers – 20 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists

Kevin Love, Cavaliers – 20 points, 12 rebounds, two assists

Andre Drummond, Pistons – 17 points, seven rebounds, two blocks

Highlights

"KCP over LeBron, though"

Next Game

Game 4 between the Cavaliers and Pistons will take place on Sunday evening in Detroit with the contest tipping off on TNT at 8:30 p.m. ET as Cleveland looks to put the series away.

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