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Cavaliers look to extend winning streak

Mar 30, 2009 - 11:45 PM By Kate Hedlin Stats Writer

Detroit (36-37) at Cleveland (60-13), 7:00 p.m. EDT

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Detroit Pistons' reserves saw plenty of action in a blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers last month.

Given the way the Cavaliers are playing now, newly designated backup Allen Iverson could get some extra time in the series' latest matchup.

Iverson and the Pistons look to snap Cleveland's 12-game winning streak Tuesday and hand the Cavaliers just their second home loss of the season.

Cleveland has taken control of the top spot in the Eastern Conference, grabbing a comfortable lead over Orlando and Boston with nine games remaining. The Cavaliers are two games head of the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA's best overall record, are 35-1 at home this season and have won a franchise-record 12 straight.

Their current four-game homestand ends Tuesday against their Central Division rival, and the most recent meeting - also in Cleveland - wasn't close. The Cavs cruised to a 99-78 win over the Pistons on February 22 as LeBron James played 31 minutes - seven below his season average - while all of Detroit's starters played fewer than 30.

One of them was Iverson, who had 14 points in 26 minutes, but now he's adjusting to a new role for the Pistons. After missing 16 games with back problems, he returned to the court in Detroit's 101-97 win over Philadelphia on Sunday, scoring eight points in 21 minutes off the bench.

It was only the seventh time in 884 career games Iverson has not been a starter. He admitted it will take time to adjust to the role change.

"With all the things I've done in my career, I knew it was going to be tough for me mentally to do this," he said. "But the more I looked at the big picture - the idea of helping my teammates win games - the more the idea appealed to me."

The Pistons split the 16 games Iverson was out. They are in seventh place in the East - one game ahead of eighth-place Chicago and 1 1/2 behind sixth-place Philadelphia.

On Sunday, Tayshaun Prince scored 21 points against the 76ers while Rodney Stuckey added 16. Before winning the last two, the Pistons had lost six of eight.

"This was a big win for us to get, especially playing a tough team on a back-to-back," coach Michael Curry said.

Beating Cleveland figures to be much more difficult than posting wins over Washington and Philadelphia. The Cavaliers are coming off a 102-74 win over Dallas on Sunday in which they rallied from 15 points down to dominate the second half as they outscored Dallas 55-25, including 30-11 in the third quarter.

James had 24 points and 12 assists while Joe Smith added 12 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Cleveland has won its last two by an average of 25.0 points.

"At this level, that's a tough feat," Smith said of the team's winning streak. "That's something (that is) tough to do whether you are at home or on the road in this league. We have played some tough teams and have had some tough games and we have been able to pull them out. That just shows how good this team is and what we are capable of doing."

The Cavs have held their last four opponents to an average of 83.5 points and 39.8 percent shooting. The Pistons are averaging only 84.7 points against Cleveland this season - their lowest average against any team from the East.

This is the final meeting of the regular season between these foes, with the Cavs having won two of the first three. They now look to win the season series for the first time since 1997-98.