The Cleveland Cavaliers are slowly on the rise as the team begins to finally put together a string of wins that has their confidence growing. The Detroit Pistons are trending in the opposite direction after a slew of injuries have thrown off team chemistry. The Pistons are slowly working to replace Brandon Jennings who will miss the remainder of the season while LeBron James has nothing but optimism in regards to Cleveland's future.
The Cavaliers are currently on a six-game win streak, while being 6-4 in their last 10 games. Much of that is due to the health of James who is at full stride following missing eight games with knee soreness. Cleveland is coming off a big win over Oklahoma City where James put up 34 points as the four-time MVP looked revived following his absence.
In his seven games back following the injuries, James is averaging 30.3 points and 6.9 rebounds and the wins are piling up as a result. Suddenly no one is questioning the forward's relationship with head coach David Blatt and no one is wondering when Kevin Love is planning on jumping ship. The additions of Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert and JR Smith are starting to show while Love looks more comfortable in the new offense. Mozgov is replacing Anderson Varejao who is out of the year while Smith and Shumpert are excelling off the bench.
The same cannot be said for the Pistons who are currently a bubble team for the playoffs, but just lost their best player. Jennings suffered a torn Achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of the season, leaving Detroit very short-handed. The point guard was averaging 15.4 point and 6.6 assists prior to the injury over the weekend. Now, DJ Augustin will take over for Jennings. He put up a career-high 35 points in his first start against the Toronto Raptors and the Pistons will need him to keep that up if they intend on beating the Cavaliers.
