For a minute there, it looked like it could get ugly. Then it got ugly.
The Cavs used Andre Drummond foul trouble to close the first quarter lighting things up. The lead stretched to 15 points for Cleveland before Drummond and Brandon Jennings just absolutely took over in the second quarter.
Jennings went into swag mode, connecting on anything he threw up. Fast break three pointers, stepbacks on the baseline, falling out of bounds, it didn't matter for Jennings. He finished the game with 25 points, but most importantly lit the fuse that set off the Pistons offense.
Meanwhile, Drummond was shutting things down defensively. He had three first half blocks, two of which came on LeBron James. That seemed to discourage the King from coming in the paint, making life much easier for Kyle Singler. James settled for jumpers most of the day and Singler used his length to help hold him to 5-19 shooting for the day.
Drummond finished with 16 points on 8-12 shooting with 17 rebounds and 5 blocks.
After surging to a halftime lead, the Pistons kept the pressure on with a balanced offensive attack and a barrage of three pointers. Six different players finished in double figures and the Pistons finished with 17 three point shots.
Greg Monroe had a mighty rough game though, shooting 4-18. He was able to get decent looks, but nothing was falling for the Moose.
It was the best defensive performance the Pistons have had in quite some time. They held the league's fourth ranked offense (according to offensive rating) to just 80 points on 38 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers.
The Pistons play next in Orlando on Tuesday, looking for their longest winning streak of the season of three games.