There were a lot of things to note in this game: A red-hot Donovan Mitchell dropping 39 in the second half, James Harden spraying the ball all over the floor and racking up 11 assists, the way the Cavaliers attacked the Pistons’ defense, getting them in rotation (and the way Detroit kept helping off good 3-point shooters for some reason), the Pistons turnovers, and much more.
But this game was decided in the 6:03 stretch at the start of the third quarter, when the Cavaliers went on a 24-0 run to take control.
Mitchell scored 21 in the third quarter on 8-of-9 shooting, and behind that, the Cavaliers went from down 4 at the half to up 18, and the game was never seriously in doubt again.
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Cleveland went on to win 112-103, tying up their series with Detroit 2-2.
A critical Game 5 is in Detroit on Wednesday — Cleveland is 6-0 at home these playoffs and 0-5 on the road.
It was a tale of two halves for Mitchell, who had just four points on 1-of-8 shooting in the first half. It was Harden, with 15 points and six assists — 11 of those points coming early in the first – that kept the Cavaliers in striking distance.
Then Mitchell put on his cape and came out like Superman in the second half, scoring 39 — tying an NBA record for points in a half in the play-by-play era.
With a free throw with 27.6 left, Mitchell got to 39, tying him with Eric “Sleepy” Floyd for the honor.
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Mitchell finished with 43 points, Harden had 24 points to go with his 11 dimes, and Evan Mobley added 17 for the Cavs.
It was a rough day for the Pistons starters. Cade Cunningham had 19 points on 16 shot attempts with four turnovers, Jalen Duren scored just eight points, and Tobias Harris scored 16 but needed 17 shots to get there.
It was a strong night off the bench from Caris LeVert with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting, and 15 from Paul Reed on 7-of-9 from the floor, that kept them close.
It looked like it might be the Cavs night from the start. Cleveland forced five early turnovers and that became 11 points going the other way, leading to the Cavaliers being up by as much as 11 early — not coincidentally Harden had 11 early points. But the Pistons righted themselves and quickly walked that down, especially thanks to a fast start from LeVert off the bench, and after a quarter it was Detroit by 3, 24-21.
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The second quarter was back-and-forth, with Cleveland doing a much better job of attacking mismatches (including being willing to go at Duran on the perimeter) and getting the Pistons in rotation. Despite that, it was the Pistons by four at the half.
Then Mitchell took over, the Cavaliers went on their run, and changed the feel of this series. It’s now a best-of-three.
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