{"id":427627,"date":"2026-05-06T04:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/427627\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T04:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T04:32:13","slug":"cavaliers-vs-pistons-game-1-instant-reactions-detroit-holds-off-cavs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/427627\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavaliers vs. Pistons Game 1 instant reactions. Detroit holds off Cavs"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014\u00a0The Pistons have taken Game 1.<\/p>\n

In the first round, the Cavs<\/a> beat the No. 5 Toronto Raptors<\/a> in Game 7 to survive and advance. The Pistons<\/a> took care of the No. 8 Orlando Magic<\/a>, also in seven games, to set up a Cleveland-Detroit series in the second round<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In Game 1<\/a> between the Cavs and Pistons, Detroit held a lead for most of the night before Cleveland<\/a> battled back to tie it in the fourth quarter. But after that point, the Pistons went on a 12-5 run and eventually won 111-101 to take a 1-0 series lead.<\/p>\n

Cavs guard Sam Merrill<\/a> left the game with a hamstring injury<\/a> and did not return.<\/p>\n

Here are Cavaliers-Pistons Game 1 instant reactions from Beacon Journal writers Ryan Lewis and Nate Ulrich:<\/p>\n

1 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons, Game 1 photos<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) walks off the court after warm up before Game 1 of second round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

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1 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons, Game 1 photos<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) walks off the court after warm up before Game 1 of second round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

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2 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons, Game 1 photos<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) warms up before Game 1 of second round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

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3 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons, Game 1 photos<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren (0) warms up before Game 1 of second round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

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4 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons, Game 1 photos<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) warms up before Game 1 of second round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

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5 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons, Game 1 photos<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons hosts Cleveland Cavaliers for Game 1 of second round of NBA playoffs at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

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6 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons, Game 1 photos<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson speaks at a press conference before Game 1 of second round of NBA playoffs between Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

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7 \/ 7<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons, Game 1 photos<\/p>\n

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaks at a press conference before Game 1 of second round of NBA playoffs between Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

Cavs vs Pistons Game 1: Ryan Lewis’ instant reaction<\/p>\n

It was a pretty safe bet the hard-nosed Pistons were gonna throw the first punch, and as it turns out, the Cavs didn’t have the counter needed to pull out Game 1.<\/p>\n

Jarrett Allen<\/a>‘s foul trouble was extremely detrimental to how the Cavs could operate. Thomas Bryant<\/a>‘s extra minutes with Allen sidelined weren’t the most productive, to say the least. After Allen was the hero of Game 7 against the Raptors, he was effectively absent from Game 1.<\/p>\n

The Cavs did well to battle back on the road and tie it, but from there, Detroit’s size killed any chance at completing the comeback, both on the outside (Cade Cunningham<\/a>) and the inside (Jalen Duren<\/a>). That’s gonna be a recurring theme in this series, and whether the Cavs can withstand it.<\/p>\n

Cavs vs Pistons Game 1: Nate Ulrich’s instant reaction<\/p>\n

The Pistons saw Cavs center Jarrett Allen produce a sensational Game 7 performance to knock out the Toronto Raptors in the first round and practically knocked out Allen for the first half of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Detroit.<\/p>\n

The Pistons attacked the basket \u2014 and Allen \u2014 out of the gate, and their haymaker landed on the Cavs’ collective chin. Small forward Ausar Thompson<\/a> drew a foul against Allen with 9:05 left in the first quarter, forward Tobias Harris<\/a> did the same with 7:36 remaining in the opening quarter and center Jalen Duren followed suit with 6:02 left in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

With three fouls in a half of a quarter, Allen checked out of the game with 6:02 remaining in the first quarter and didn’t return to the action until the start of the third quarter. The Pistons led 37-21 heading into the second quarter and 59-46 at halftime. The Cavs never recovered.<\/p>\n

Allen scored 22 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the third quarter alone, against the Raptors in Game 7. He had no points and no rebounds in the first half of Game 1 against the Pistons.<\/p>\n

The foul trouble for Allen didn’t end there, either. He picked up his fourth foul with 7:24 left in the third quarter, sending Thompson to the foul line.<\/p>\n

Allen finished with two points and three rebounds in 18 minutes. The Cavs need to be at their best to win on the road in the playoffs, and missing Allen for such a significant portion of Game 1 proved to be a recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n

Ryan Lewis and Nate Ulrich cover the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> for the Akron Beacon Journal. The Beacon Journal sports department can be reached at bjsports@thebeaconjournal.com. <\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavaliers vs Pistons Game 1 score, analysis of Detroit’s win<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014\u00a0The Pistons have taken Game 1. In the first round, the Cavs beat the No. 5 Toronto…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[200839,79950,200838,17257,85,46,174265,200836,111459,175396,200841,105,200837,200840,95007,194069],"class_list":["post-427627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ausar-thompson","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-cavs","tag-cleveland","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jalen-duren","tag-jarrett-allen","tag-orlando-magic","tag-pistons","tag-sam-merrill","tag-sports","tag-the-pistons","tag-thomas-bryant","tag-tobias-harris","tag-toronto-raptors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}