Cavaliers outlast Pistons to take game 3, 116-109
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - Saturday afternoon at Rocket Arena it was as close as it could be to being “do or die” without it actually being “do or die” as the Cleveland Cavaliers entered game three of the best of seven series down 2-0 after dropping the first two game in Detroit in mistake filled fashion turning the ball over 31 times combined in the two losses.
The Cavs had no room for error, and the game was a must win and the Cavs were as bad as they looked the first two games came through and won 116-109.
Game three began with a Cavs turnover on their first possession and porous defense and with 9:33 left on the first quarter clock the Pistons led 11-5. Even worse, with 9:15 left Donovan Mitchell picked up his second personal foul when he fouled Duncan Robinson. With 8:32 left in the quarter Mitchell drained a three and the Pistons lead was 12-9. With 6:26 left in the quarter Jarrett Allen scored in the paint and was fouled cutting the Detroit lead to 18-16. Then with 5:39 left James Hareden found Dennis Schroder in front of the Cavs bench and Schroder drained the three and the Detroit lead was down to 20-19. With 5:09 remaining the Cavs took their first lead 21-20 when Allen scored in the paint. Former Cavs coach and current Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff called an immediate timeout. After a Cavs turnover by Shroder the Pistons regained the lead 28-27 when former Cavs Caris LeVert scored in the paint. Schroder then tied it back up at 30-30 with 1:16 left in the opening quarter. Mitchell gave the Cavs the lead back 32-30 when he knocked down a jumper with :29.1 left on the clock. Allen and Mitchell led all scorers in the first quarter with nine points apiece. Tobias Harris paced Detroit with eight points. The Cavs turned the ball over six times resulting in eight Pistons points. The Pistons outrebounded the Cavs 10-7.
With 8:39 left in the second quarter, the Cavs held their biggest lead to that point 36-31 after Sam Merrill hit two free throws. With 7:38 Dean Wade drained a three and the Cavs lead was 41-34. With 5:58 left and Cade Cunningham was charged with his second personal foul when he charged Merrill. Bickerstaff challenged the foul and was unsuccessful and the Cavs took possession of the ball. With 4:47 left in the second period and the Cavs leading 45-39 Evan Mobley picked up his third personal foul when he fouled Tobias Harris. Harris hit one of two free throws and cut the Cavs lead to five points. With 4:22 left in the half Harden drained a three and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but Mobley rebounded the miss and scored giving the Cavs a 50-40 lead. Cleveland took their biggest lead with 3:00 left when Mitchell drained a three and led 55-44. After Bickerstaff’s boy turned the ball over Allen slammed it home giving the Cavs a 13-point lead with 2:39 left. Bickerstaff called an immediate time out. With 1:23 remaining the Cavs took a 60-46 lead when Mitchell scored in the paint. When the halftime buzzer sounded the Cavs held a commanding 64-48 lead. Cleveland outshot the Pistons from the field 67% (24 of 36) to 38% (18 of 48) in the opening half. The Pistons did outrebound the Cavs 21-17. Both teams committed eight turnovers in the first 24 minutes. Mitchell led all scorers with 20 points, Allen tallied 13. Cunningham and Harris paced the Pistons with 10 points each.
With 7:21 remaining in the third and the Cavs lead down to 11 Kenny Atkinson took a timeout. He spent most of the time angerly scolding lead official Scott Foster for something. Immediately after the timeout Max Strus drained a three and the Cavs lead was at 14 points. The Pistons cut the Cleveland lead to 72-64 when Ausar Thompson hit a jumper with 5:33 left. The lead was back at 10 with 4:42 left when Jaylon Tyson hit Allen in the paint. But just seconds later Duncan Robinson hit a three and the Cavs lead was seven and then down to five points with 4:04 left after the Cavs 12th turnover of the game and fourth of the third quarter. With 3:08 left Mitchell committed the Cavs 5th turnover of the quarter and 13th of the game. Cunningham scored at the other end and the game was tied. Less than a minute later the Pistons once again had the lead when Paul Reed dunked. The Cleveland crowd was out of the game. They had watched this story before. After the Cavs tied the game 76-76 after a turnover by Cuningham Strus scored in the paint. The Pistons then turned over again and Tyson drained a three from in front of Bickerstaff’s bench to give the Cavs a 79-76 lead with 1:45 left in the third quarter. The Cavs lead was back to seven points after Mitchell scored in the paint with :30.4 left in the quarter. Strus was called for his fourth foul, and the Pistons took advantage out, scoring the Cavs 5-0 in the final 30 seconds to cut the Cleveland lead to 83-81 at the end of three quarters. Mitchell still led all scorers with 26 points and Cuningham was pacing Detroit with 20. The Cavs shot 42% (8 of 19) in the third while the Pistons shot 59% (13 of 22). Detroit continued to outrebound the Cavs 32-23.
With 10:14 left Cuningham picked up his fourth personal foul, he did not agree with the call when he fouled Mobley. Mobley made both free throws and the Cavs lead 87-83. With 9:11 left Mitchell drove through the lane and scored, giving the Cavs 92-86. Bickerstaff called a timeout. With 9:07 left Daniss Jenkins belted Schroder in the neck but after review was not considered flagrant even though the arm was to the neck. The Cavs did get the ball and scored when Mobley took it to the basket to give the Cavs a 94-86 lead. With 8:27 left Mobley picked up his fourth foul. Reed hit free throw and cut the Cavs lead to 94-89. With 6:43 left in regulation, Mobley picked up his fifth foul and went to the bench. The score was now 99-96 in favor of the Cavs. With 5:412 left Cuningham cut the Cavs lead to two points with a jumper in the paint. The Cavs failed to score at the other end when Thompson drained a three and the Cavs trailed 101-100. Thompson was so wide open on the shot he could read book before he had to shoot. The Cavs defense was a complete failure. The Cavs regained the lead 102-101 with Mitchell was fouled by Thompson. Allen scored in the paint with 3:25 left giving Cleveland a 104-101 lead, but once again the horrendous Cavs defense allowed Robinson to hit his fourth three of the game to tie the contest 104-104 with 3:14 left. Strus stole the ball and scored at the other end to give the Cavs a 106-104 lead with 2:28 left on the clock. Harden then scored with 1:29 left and Cavs had a four point lead. Bickerstaff called a timeout. With :49.7 left Cuningham drained a three and the Cavs lead was 110-109. Then with :25.9 left the man who an entire city hated 48 hours earlier became a hero when Harden hit a three and the Cavs led 113-109. Robinson, who wins the Danny Ainge Crybaby of the game award, shot a three and missed. Allen then got the rebound and the Pistons immediately fouled Mitchell. He made one of two free throws but got the got the rebound on the miss and was fouled again, clinching the Cavs 116-109 win.
Mitchell led all scorers with 35 points. Harden had 19 and Allen had 18. Cuningham led Detroit in the loss with 27.
The Cavs flipped the script from the first two games as they forced 16 Pistons turnovers resulting 27 points. The Cavs did turn it over 15 times, but Detroit managed to turn those into just 19 points. The Pistons outworked the Cavs on the boards in the game 40-33, but in the final quarter the Cavs outrebounded Detroit 10-7 to secure the win.
The series will continue on Monday night at Rocket Arena with game four at 8 pm..
POSTED 05/09/2026 18:15
Lake County Sentinel
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Cavs point guard James Harden brings the ball up the floor in the first half of the Cavs 116-109 win over the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals game 3 at Rocket Arena. Photo by Tim Shirer
