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Detroit Shock: Pistons crush Cavs at The Q

Dec 29, 2014 - 3:25 AM Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Brandon Jennings scored 25 points and led a 3-point barrage that carried the Detroit Pistons to a stunning 103-80 victory over a cold-shooting Cleveland Cavaliers squad.

The Pistons made good on a scorching 17-of-31 attempts from beyond the arc in collecting their second straight win following the team's surprising release of forward Josh Smith. Jennings went 5-of-9 from long distance, Jodie Meeks was 3-of-4 in a 14-point effort off the bench and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished 3-of-7 while adding 13 points.

"We certainly made a lot of shots," said Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy. "17- for-31 from 3 was tremendous."

Andre Drummond chipped in 16 points, 17 rebounds and five blocks for Detroit, which had been mired in a 2-17 stretch prior to defeating Indiana on Friday.

The Cavaliers, on the other hand, shot a woeful 32.8 percent over the final three quarters to lose for just the second time in their last 11 home outings.

LeBron James had 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, but was just 5- of-19 from the floor.

Kevin Love paced Cleveland, playing for a second straight time without injured point guard Kyrie Irving, with 20 points while pulling down 10 rebounds. Tristan Thompson posted 18 points and 11 boards in the loss.

"We were just flat tonight," said Love. "Tough game for us. We need to respond."

The Pistons trailed by 15 early in the second quarter and were down 43-32 midway through the period before putting together an 18-0 run to completely change momentum.

Jennings led the surge by dropping in eight points, the last three on a 26- footer that was followed by a Caron Butler trey that suddenly staked Detroit to a 50-43 lead.

Love answered with a triple of his own and James hit a technical free throw to bring Cleveland within three at the break, but the Cavs' offense continued to bog down in the third quarter as they fell further behind.

Cleveland went a poor 5-of-21 from the field for the frame, which Detroit began by outscoring the Cavs by an 18-6 margin. Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Singler combined for a trio of 3-pointers over a 74-second stretch during the sequence, which Drummond finished with a second-chance dunk that extended the lead to 68-53.

The differential was 18 points after Jennings knocked down another trey to make the score 75-57 with 3:20 left in the third.

Detroit kept pouring in on in the fourth, starting the stanza on a 13-2 tear to own a commanding 90-63 lead with eight minutes to go.

The Cavaliers built their big early advantage on the strength of a 12-0 spurt that overlapped the first and second quarters, with Love beginning the second with back-to-back buckets that put the Cavs up 32-17.

Game Notes

Irving sat out with a bruised left knee ... The Cavaliers ended 5-of-29 on 3- point tries, including a 1-of-12 display in the second half ... The Pistons have prevailed in five of their last six visits to Quicken Loans Arena and are 8-3 in their past 11 overall matchups with Cleveland ... The Cavaliers committed 18 turnovers that the Pistons converted into 21 points.