Cavaliers Continue Slide, While Pistons Play for Pride N.B.A. draft conspiracy theorists may have raised an eyebrow or two if they were watching the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. The Cavs, 13th in the Eastern Conference, and the Pistons at 10th, are clearly cruising toward the lottery. But Tuesday's game was more than the customary race to the bottom, as the Cavaliers checked out. The Pistons blew out the Cavaliers, 116-77. The score is closer than the actual game, as the Pistons were up by 50, yes 50, off the 67.9 percent shooting at the end of three quarters. Pistons rookie guard Brandon Knight went wild, scoring a career-best 28 points off 11-of-12 shooting. The Cavaliers (20-40), picked up a few more lottery ping-pong balls as they slid to the league's third-worst record. The Pistons (23-38), tied for the eighth-worst record with the Kings, lost a few lottery chances with the win. But the Pistons seemed to be happier because of their effort. "It means a lot that we finish strong," Pistons center Greg Monroe told the Detroit News "We are not packing it in right now. We want to win these last games. We are still focused and we are doing everything to get better as a team and continue to build momentum for next year. Cavaliers Coach Byron Scott was tersely to the point about the dismal play. "One of the worst games we've played in a long time," he told NBA.com. I give the Pistons a lot of credit. They played 10 times harder than we did and were ready to play from the start of the game to the finish. We looked like we were a step or two slow on every play, especially on the defensive end. The Cavaliers have been without star rookie point guard Kyrie Irving for the past nine games, because of a right shoulder sprain. Irving participated in the shootaround before the Pistons game, but did not play. Scott said he thought Irving could be back in the lineup this week. Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain Dealer argues that Irving should stay away from the misery that is the Cavaliers for the remaining six games of the season, because things aren't getting better. ..."Irving should be pulling a Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack as his tee shot ricochets off the ball cleaner. "Oh, Byron, my arm, my arm,"" Reed wrote. The Cavaliers didn't mentally check out of Tuesday's night's game. That would imply they had checked in....