That was the Pistons team that won 60 games and was the No. 1 seed in the East.
Detroit was the more physical team and owned the paint, outscoring Cleveland 48-29. The Pistons’ defense was locked in, holding the Cavaliers to 38.5% shooting overall, with Donovan Mitchell shooting 6-of-20 and Evan Mobley 6-of-14. That was the deep Detroit team from the regular season, and on Friday, it got 48 points from its bench, led by 17 from Paul Reed, compared to just 19 total points from the Cavaliers’ bench.
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And that was the All-Star Jalen Duren that has been missing this series: 15 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and he was a huge presence inside.
The result is Detroit forcing a Game 7 with a dominating win, 115-94. That is the second-straight series the Pistons won Game 6 on the road to keep their season alive
Also, for the second straight series, the Pistons will host a Game 7, this time on Sunday.
While we saw a far more balanced Detroit offense on Friday night, this is still Cade Cunningham’s team and he led the way with 21 points, including five 3-pointers, plus eight assists. What was different was the shooters around him knocking down shots: The Pistons hit 16 3-pointers while shooting 44.4%.
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However, for the Pistons, everything started with their defense, as it did during the regular season.
Detroit also forced 18 turnovers, allowing them to get out and run, getting easy buckets in transition that they had been missing for much of the last few games.
Detroit was resilient all night. Thanks to the energy of their home crowd, Cleveland went on a 17-7 first-quarter run to take a six-point lead. Detroit just put its head down and hustled its way to a 10-2 run to end the first, and it was 27-25 Detroit after a quarter. If the Cavaliers wanted to know why they were down, it was the seven first-quarter turnovers that became nine Pistons points.
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Pistons extended that run to 16-2 early in the third and eventually pushed the lead to 12. How did Detroit earn that lead? Outscoring Cleveland’s bench 17-0 to start the game, and the Pistons grabbing five offensive rebounds — they dominated the possession game early.
Detroit led much of the night, but the Cavaliers finished the first half on a 7-0 run — in part due to a couple of lazy passes by Cunningham that became turnovers going the other way — and it was close, 54-51, at the half. Cunningham had 16 at the half, Mitchell 13.
In the third quarter, Detroit just kept grinding. Cleveland would make a little run, the Pistons would answer. Detroit was just more driven, more relentless, and it just kept getting to the loose balls and making plays when it needed them.
Cleveland was led by Harden, who scored 23 points but has now fallen to 4-14 in his career in Game 6s. Mitchell had 18 points on his 20 shot attempts, and Evan Mobley also had 18.
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Detroit got 17 off the bench from Paul Reed, 14 from Duncan Robinson, including four 3-pointers, and Marcus Sasser was 4-of-5 for nine points, but that undersells his impact — he was a team high +27. Duren and Daniss Jenkins each scored 15 for the Pistons.
If these Pistons show up on Sunday, they will be playing the Knicks for the Eastern Conference title starting Tuesday. However, expect a much better outing from a desperate Cavaliers team on the road Sunday.
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