Pistons rally from 23-point deficit, but fall short to Cavaliers

The Pistons trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by 23 points on Thursday and rallied back to take a one-point lead in the fourth quarter. However, it wasn't enough as Detroit suffered an 82-79 loss in Thomas and Mack Center.

Detroit had a chance to tie the game with 9.4 seconds left, but Jules Bernard's 3-point attempt was blocked by Cavs guard Cam Young. The ball wound up in Charlie Moore's hands with an open 3 from the corner, but his shot was short and the game came to a dramatic end.

Moore converted a 3-pointer to bring the Pistons within one with just over two minutes left. A couple of plays later, Stanley Umude displayed excellent footwork to get a wide-open layup to give Detroit a 77-76 lead with 58 seconds left — its first lead since early in the first quarter.

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Cleveland took the lead back after two free throws from Ochai Agbaji. Two more freebies from RJ Nembhard gave the Cavs a three-point lead. Bernard, who scored a team-high 14 points, was fouled and calmly knocked down both free throws to bring the Pistons back within one.

After a timeout, Cleveland had the ball with 11.2 seconds and Detroit sent Cam Young to the free-throw line. The Cavs guard made both shots to bring Detroit's deficit back to three, setting up the final possession of the game.

Cleveland was led by Young, who scored 15 points and grabbed four rebounds.

If there are any takeaways from a Summer League game without the Pistons' main guys aside from the game's final moments, it was the early performance of Pistons center Balsa Koprivica.

Braxton Key had 13 points and eight rebounds.

Koprivica was Detroit's main source of offense to begin the game. The 7-foot-1 center from Serbia had the Pistons' first six points, all on dunks. He finished with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds on 5-of-5 from the field.

Buddy Boeheim finished with nine points, including a crucial 3-pointer from the wing in the fourth quarter to bring Detroit within two points.

mcurtis@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @MikeACurtis2