Boxscore | Recap

It’s going to take several months to determine for certain if the Pistons are a better team than the Cleveland Cavaliers, but one conclusion seemed inescapable even before these two Central Division rivals got to training camp: Detroit’s second unit was supposed to be able to run laps around Cleveland’s.

Around a Cleveland second unit missing both Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic, at least.

Nobody’s going to put too much stock in the evidence offered by one preseason game, but the Cavs built a case to the contrary Thursday night, a huge Pistons lead evaporating after both teams’ starters went to the bench in a 96-90 overtime Detroit loss that leaves both teams 1-1.

Nothing about the assumption of Detroit’s bench superiority appeared amiss by halftime of their meeting Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena. With both teams’ starters out to start the second quarter, Detroit’s unit of Nazr Mohammed, Jason Maxiell, Jarvis Hayes and rookie first-round guards Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo outscored Cleveland’s bench 11-4 over the first three minutes to stretch a five-point lead to 12.

The Pistons stretched the lead to 18 soon after halftime and still led by 15 late in the third quarter when – with mostly backups paired against each other again – the Cavs closed the quarter on a 9-0 run and stretched it to 22-2 by midway through the third quarter to take a five-point lead. The Pistons then went on an 8-0 run of their own to seemingly take control again, but two free throws by Dwayne Jones – a career 47 percent foul shooter – with less than one second remaining forced overtime.

LeBron James scored 17 points, all in the first half, to lead the Cavs, who also got 10 from recent free-agent acquisition Devin Brown. Three Pistons scored 12 – Chauncey Billups and the two rookie first-rounders.

Any confidence Cleveland takes from the game regarding its bench should come with an asterisk: The Pistons played with a dramatically undersized lineup for most of the fourth quarter and all of overtime due to the unavailability of Mohammed and Amir Johnson. Mohammed got kicked in the calf muscle and didn’t return, though the injury was not deemed serious, and Johnson remains out with a sprained ankle. With Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess already finished for the night, that left Jason Maxiell at center and Ronald Dupree at power forward – a lineup the Pistons would never use in a game that mattered.

Without the threat of an inside game, the Pistons went through dreadful offensive droughts. They didn’t score a field goal for nearly one full quarter starting midway through the third quarter and didn’t score a basket in overtime. Cleveland went on an 11-0 in OT after Dupree opened scoring with a free throw.

The highlight of the night was a running third-quarter exchange between Rasheed Wallace and Drew Gooden that saw both get hit with technical fouls, the most obvious reminder that the tense playoff confrontations of the past two seasons have created a history between these neighboring franchises.

While Cleveland’s bench surprised in getting the better of Detroit’s, the Pistons’ starters were clearly better than Cleveland’s despite getting a heavy does of James, who scored all of his points in 16 first-half minutes, going scoreless in his nine third-quarter minutes.

Both Varejao and Pavlovic, restricted free agents, are unsigned and taking a tough stance in negotiations. Cleveland can’t afford to be without either one after an off-season that saw the Cavs – who had no money to spend in free agency and not one draft pick to spend in a talent-rich draft – add no one of remote significance unless Brown, who’s spent his first four years in the league as mostly a deep bench reserve, proves for real.

The Pistons come home to The Palace of Auburn Hills for two weekend games – Friday night against Utah and Sunday night against Denver.