Niyo: Energetic Pistons hold off Cavaliers’ late charge in Game 1

Detroit — They’d had the lead almost all night.

And for much of Tuesday’s playoff series opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Pistons looked like the team we’d seen throughout the regular season. Forceful and energetic, confident and comfortable.

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But then their opponent started to as well, and before you knew it, a double-digit lead had vanished the way they often do in the NBA postseason. An 11-0 fourth-quarter run from the Cavaliers tied the score at 93-93, a rollicking home crowd fell into an awkward silence, and just like that, a night’s good work was in danger of going bad.

Yet it