The second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs continued on Saturday, and in the first of two games, the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled out a massive home win over the Detroit Pistons, the top seed in the East.
Looking to avoid a 3-0 hole, the Cavs were able to withstand every Pistons run in a 116-109 victory to pull within 2-1 in the series. Donovan Mitchell led the way for the Cavs with 35 points and 10 rebounds, while James Harden had 19 points and seven assists and closed things out with three clutch buckets, including the dagger 3-pointer with 25.9 seconds to play.
Before we turn our attention to the nightcap — Game 3 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder — here are our takeaways from Cleveland’s big win.
Cavs’ backcourt comes up clutch
Let’s start with Harden, who has (understandably) taken a lot of heat for recording more turnovers than made field goals in four separate games this postseason, including the first two games of this series. Harden wasn’t the star of the show for most of Saturday’s 116-109 win, but late in the fourth quarter, he took over.
First, with the Cavaliers up just two points, Harden targeted Tobias Harris in a pick-and-roll, got the switch and went into iso mode. Given how his old Houston Rockets teams disdained the midrange, it amuses me that this stepback middy has become such a hallmark of Harden’s game in recent years:
Then, after a huge Cade Cunningham dunk, Harden hunted Duncan Robinson, shook him with a crossover and made a clutch floater over Jalen Duren:
Cunningham responded with a 3, setting up the biggest bucket of the day. Harden went at Harris again, danced with the ball and then drilled a three in his face, giving Cleveland a four-point lead with 25.9 seconds left:
Asked how he quieted the chatter in his walkoff interview with NBC’s Ashley ShahAhmadi, Harden said, “What chatter?”
He continued: “I play basketball, and whatever this team needs me to do, I’m going to go out there and do it. So letting the game play out. Fourth quarter, my number was called, and I go to work.”
Before that seven-point outburst, Harden had done most of his damage as a passer. Operating out of high pick-and-rolls, he set up a massive Evan Mobley dunk and repeatedly created wide-open 3s. He finished with 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting and seven assists in 40 minutes, and Mitchell, his backcourt partner, had a game-high 35 points on 13-for-24 shooting, plus 10 rebounds and four assists.
With the exception of the disastrous third quarter, Mitchell and Harden built on some of the good stuff that they did offensively in the second half of Game 2. Led by their two star playmakers, the Cavs got into their offense more quickly, attacked matchups more purposefully and put more pressure on the rim. As a result, Cleveland had far and away its most efficient offensive game of the series.
Pistons win the possession game, but not the actual game
Especially during the playoffs, coaches love to talk about the importance of the possession game. It’s imperative, they all say, to get “shots on goal,” and you simply cannot afford to throw the ball away or allow opponents to pile up offensive rebounds.
Well, Game 3 of the Cavaliers-Pistons series is the exception that proves the rule, I guess. Detroit attempted 17 more field goals than Cleveland did, but somehow lost by seven points.
The main reason this happened: the Cavs couldn’t keep the Pistons off the offensive glass. Detroit had 17 offensive boards, which means they rebounded 40.4% of their misses. Cleveland, meanwhile, had five offensive boards and rebounded 27.8% of its misses.
“It’s really hard to win in this league with that disparity, so I’d just say that’s a little lucky on our part,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters.
Atkinson added that they can’t have another game like this: “It’s not sustainable.”
Cleveland overcame this by scoring far more efficiently than Detroit did. At the end of the first quarter, the numbers were absurd — the Cavs had a 25% turnover rate and zero offensive rebounds, but had an 88.2% effective field goal percentage, while the Pistons had a 16% turnover rate and a 50% offensive rebounding percentage, but their effective field goal percentage was also exactly 50%, per Cleaning The Glass. In the halfcourt, the Cavs were scoring 142.9 points per 100 possessions to the Pistons’ 90.5 per 100, but they led by only two points heading into the second quarter.
By the end of the game, the contrast wasn’t quite that extreme, but it was still there. In the halfcourt, Cleveland scored 113.5 per 100, and Detroit scored an ugly 89.9 per 100. The Pistons may have dominated the possession game, but they couldn’t execute well enough to come away with a win on the road. Their 17 offensive boards turned into only 19 second-chance points, and the Cavs’ 16 turnovers turned into only 19 points off turnovers for Detroit.
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