Cavaliers top Pistons to trim deficit in NBA playoff series
Cleveland's James Harden puts up a shot in the Cavaliers' victory over the Detroit Pistons in game three of their NBA playoff series (Jason Miller) The Cleveland Cavaliers, fueled by 35 points from Donovan Mitchell and a bravura finish from James Harden, grabbed a crucial 116-109 game-three victory over the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals on Saturday. The Cavs, who dropped the first two games in Detroit, remained unbeaten at home in these playoffs, including a seven-game first-round series against Toronto in which the host team won every game. More importantly, they avoided falling into a 3-0 hole -- a deficit no NBA team has erased to win a playoff series.
Mitchell added 10 rebounds and four assists. Harden, a three-time NBA scoring champion who came in for criticism after lackluster shooting performances in games one and two, scored nine of his 19 points in a tight fourth quarter. His run of seven straight points late in the fourth included a dagger trey that pushed Cleveland's lead to four with 25.
9 seconds left. "Whatever this team needs me to do, I'm going to go out there and do it," the bearded 36-year-old said. "Fourth quarter, my number was called and I go to work.
" The Cavs withstood a 27-point triple-double from Detroit's Cade Cunningham, who added 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Trailing by as many as seven in the first quarter, the Cavaliers seized control in the second behind a clinical display from Mitchell, who electrified the Rocket Arena crowd when he wrong-footed Duncan Robinson and buried a step-back three, then fed Jarrett Allen for a dunk. Cleveland led 64-48 at halftime and pushed the lead to 17 early in the third before the Pistons clawed back, putting together a 12-0 scoring run to edge in front before the Cavs answered with a 9-0 run of their own.
The back-and-forth battle saw the Cavs up 83-81 heading into the final frame, the top-seeded Pistons briefly edging ahead with less than four minutes to play before Cleveland responded again. "They made a run (when we were) up 17. We've seen it before," Harden said.