Donovan Mitchell ties NBA playoff record as Cavs even series vs Pistons
Donovan Mitchell had a brutal first half in Game 4. He then went nuclear in the second half, tying an NBA record and leading the Cavs to a win.
CLEVELAND — Wake up, Sleepy Floyd , you have company. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before Donovan Mitchell went nuclear. The Cavaliers finally received that type of a night in the 2026 playoffs, and in doing so evened up the Eastern Conference Semifinals 2-2 with a resounding Game 4 win over the Detroit Pistons .
Mitchell made a little history along the way. After a dreadful first half in which he missed his first six shots and scored only four points, Mitchell took over the game the moment he stepped onto the floor after halftime, pouring in 39 points in the second half and spurring a wild 22-0 run to open the third quarter — he was responsible 15 of the points during that stretch — that just about tied the series right then and there. The 39-point half tied an NBA postseason record, set by Eric "Sleepy" Floyd in the 1987 playoffs.
The type of scoring explosion Mitchell put on display to ensure the Cavs tied the series 2-2 hadn't been done in nearly 40 years. "Everything. This is the easy answer," said center Jarrett Allen when asked about what Mitchell meant to the Cavs in Game 4.
"He gave us everything on the offensive end and even on the defensive end. … He was giving us every single effort that he had. " Donovan Mitchell playoff stats But what made Mitchell's night so remarkable wasn't just the historic stretch late in the game.