AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -LeBron James needed someone to pick him up Monday night.
Larry Hughes and Sasha Pavlovic didn’t do the job.
James scored 10 points, Cleveland’s starting guards combined for 21 points on 8-for-27 shooting, and the Cavaliers lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final 79-76 to Detroit.
“We felt like we gave this one away,” said Hughes, who scored 13 points. “We know we have to be better on Thursday.”
Cleveland’s post duo of Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao kept the Cavaliers close.
Ilgauskas finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds in 35 minutes. The center’s only mistake was coming up short on a jumper that would have tied the game at 78 with 15 seconds to play.
“I got some really good looks, because they paid so much attention to LeBron that I was able to find some open spots,” he said. “We will see how each team adjusts for Game 2.”
The 31-year-old Lithuanian showed early he was ready for a big night, pulling down three straight offensive rebounds before scoring on his fourth shot of a single first-quarter possession.
“Ilgauskas was great tonight,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. “We didn’t rebound, but we were able to limit LeBron’s number of open opportunities.”
Varejao was steady off the bench, scoring 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 27 minutes. He also had eight rebounds.
“Z was great and Andy gave us some energy off the bench,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said.
Ilgauskas picked up the pace again in the fourth, pulling Cleveland within 71-70 with another tip-in, then hitting a 21-foot jumper to put the Cavaliers up by a point with 3:35 to play.
After Detroit’s next two baskets, Ilgauskas had answers, hitting a baseline jumper and two free throws to put the Cavaliers up 76-75.
“We were focusing on LeBron, and I think we let Z get away too much,” Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince said. “That’s something we’re going to have to fix for Game 2.”
It still wasn’t enough, as the Cavaliers couldn’t get a defensive stop when they needed one in the fourth quarter.
“We had a couple breakdowns late in the game that cost us big,” Brown said. “That’s a tough, veteran team, and they aren’t going to just let us have one. We’re going to have to earn it, and there’s a lot of things that we can do to clean things up and win the next one.”
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