CLEVELAND — Stars often decide playoff games. In Games 1 and 2, Cade Cunningham was the best player on the floor and carried his team to victory. In Game 3, it was Donovan Mitchell’s turn to show why he’s a perennial All-NBA player.
Mitchell’s heroics to start and a nine-point fourth quarter from James Harden to close helped the Cleveland Cavaliers climb back into their second-round series against the Detroit Pistons with a 116-109 win in Game 3. Detroit still owns a 2-1 series lead.
Starts to games
have been an issue for the Cavs throughout the first two games of the series. They’ve lost the first half by 13 and 11 in the first two games of the series.
That trend turned around in Game 3, or at least it did after the first three minutes.
Detroit got out to a quick seven-point lead after Duncan Robinson and Cunningham hit two tough contested triples right out of the gates.
The Cavs settled in from there. They found a way to get into the paint in the opening frame. Mitchell and Jarrett Allen led the charge, as each delivered nine points in the first quarter, leading to a narrow two-point advantage after one.
Cleveland broke things open in the second quarter with the same formula they had in the first. They got into the teeth of the defense at will, and Detroit didn’t have an answer.
The Cavs went 13-15 on shots in the restricted area in the first half. By comparison, they had just 25 attempts at the rim in the first two games combined.
Mitchell was responsible for this turnaround. After taking just one shot in the restricted area in the first two games combined, he went 4-5 on shots in the restricted area. Once Mitchell gets going inside, the whole game opens up for him.
Mitchell scored 20 points in the first half, with nine coming in the second quarter. And when he wasn’t scoring for himself, he was finding avenues for his teammates to get going. This included Evan Mobley, who had seven points in the second alone.
On the other end, the Cavs did a good job of locking down the paint. The Pistons weren’t able to get anything easy inside. After making their first two triples of the game, they missed their ensuing 12. This led to Detroit registering just 18 points in the second quarter, allowing the Cavs to take a 14-point lead into the break.
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The Pistons flipped the script in the third quarter. Going from playing more of a drop coverage to switching on-ball screens slowed the Cavs downhill attack. And once the downhill attack stalls out, so has everything else about their game.
Detroit’s offense can bog down in the half-court if they’re forced to attack off makes. When they can get downhill with pace off turnovers and defensive rebounds, things open up.
As a result, the Pistons went 8-11 on shots in the restricted area and added five more points at the line. The Cavs went 2-3 and had just one free throw. Throw in five Cleveland turnovers, and the Pistons won the third 33-19 to make it a two-point game heading into the fourth quarter.
Neither team could create any separation in the fourth. It was a tie game with two and a half minutes left, but Cleveland reasserted control.
Turnovers have popped up in clutch time to hurt the road team in the first two games of the series. That happened again as Cunningham gave it away on three straight possessions, leading to four points going the other way.
James Harden, who was quiet all game, took control. He scored on three-straight possessions, including a three right in Tobias Harris’s eyes with 26 seconds left to give the Cavs a four-point lead and seal the game.
For as bad as Harden was at times in the first two games of the series, he came through with the game on the line in Game 3 to give Cleveland a new lease on life this series.
Mitchell led all scorers with 35 points on 13-24 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and four assists.
Harden scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. He finished with seven assists, two rebounds, and a steal.
Allen added 18 points. Mobley had 13 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
Cunningham led Detroit with a 27-point triple-double. Tobias Harris had 21 points and five rebounds.
Cleveland has a chance to tie the series in Game 4 on Monday at 8 PM.
