NBA: Detroit Pistons at Cleveland 12-28-14

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and some choice words about his team's efforts at home after a 103-80 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

(AP Photo | Tony Dejak)

CLEVELAND -- The most direct beneficiary of the Detroit Pistons' move to release Josh Smith last week already was playing well before it happened, but with more minutes entrusted to him, Jonas Jerebko has yet to disappoint.

Jerebko has played his most minutes of the season in the two games since Smith was released one week ago today, 28 Friday against Indiana and 27 in Sunday's 103-80 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"It feels great to just come in there and move the ball, play with energy, play defense, and just share the ball," Jerebko said. "My teammates trust me to make open shots and it's just fun playing out there."

Jerebko's line against the Cavs was nearly pristine: 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal, one blocked shot, no fouls or turnovers, 4-of-8 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting on 3-pointers.

That was remarkably similar to his line in Friday's win against the Pacers, and bench production in both of those games was among the reasons Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy called them the team's two best performances to date.

"Jonas has played well all year," Van Gundy said. "Now, he knows he's going to get more minutes, and I think that really, really helps him."

Jerebko has four double-digit scoring totals in the last five games and was on the floor when the Pistons began turning around a 15-point deficit in the second quarter.

"We just started playing together," he said. "We didn't play our game at first. We were down 15. It shows a lot of resilience for a team to come back and then finish the way we did. So I think it was a statement game for us. We've got to play together and we can play this way."

PISTONS NOTES

Anthony Tolliver, Mr. Perfection: Acquired in trade for Tony Mitchell last week, but yet to be activated in a game, the new Detroit forward is enamored of his team's success. "We're 2-0 with me," Tolliver said.

Dropping dimes too late: Tolliver was expected to be on the Pistons' 13-man active roster but a miscalculation left him in street clothes. The Pistons were waiting to see whether Andre Drummond, who is nursing a sore foot, would be available, Van Gundy said. By the time they got the all-clear on Drummond, and were ready to call the league to announce Gigi Datome as their lone inactive, they had missed the deadline for doing so, which is one hour before a game. In such cases, the decision on inactives defaults to whatever the team decided in its previous game. Tolliver was inactive Friday against the Pacers, so he sat again. "It was, thank God, a screw-up that didn't end up hurting us, because we could have ended up needing him," Van Gundy said. "But that was just a mistake on our part. It wasn't that we didn't want him active."

No defensive wizardry: LeBron James was limited to 17 points on 5-of-19 shooting from the field with seven turnovers, and the Pistons guarded him by committee. Van Gundy credited his defenders for their work but wasn't ready to hand out any defensive awards for it. "Sometimes he misses, and sometimes he doesn't. You do as good a job as you can and that's what it comes down to. I've had LeBron hit me for 50. So I've got no answers on how to play him. I haven't seen a guy in the league who can go lock him down. He had a bad night," Van Gundy said.

One mistake begets another: Cavaliers star Kevin Love said there too often is something with his 18-12 team that gets it off track, particularly at home, where Cleveland is 12-6. Against the Pistons, the biggest problem within the Cavs' control that went haywire for them was an 18-11 turnover disadvantage. "When that happens and we let somebody get an easy bucket, we hang our heads and don't play with pace," Love said. "Don't score the ball at a high clip, it affects us in every other part of the game. We need to play better in front of our home fans and it's unacceptable."

NBA: Detroit Pistons at Cleveland 12-28-14 9 Gallery: NBA: Detroit Pistons at Cleveland 12-28-14

-- Download the Detroit Pistons on MLive app for iPhone and Android

-- Like MLive's Detroit Pistons Facebook page