Bounce-back performances from Donovan Mitchell and James Harden lead Cavs to Game 3 win over Pistons

CLEVELAND — Stars often decide playoff games. In Games 1 and 2, Cade Cunningham was the best player on the floor and carried his team to victory. In Game 3, it was Donovan Mitchell’s turn to show why he’s a perennial All-NBA player.

Mitchell’s heroics to start and a nine-point fourth quarter from James Harden to close helped the Cleveland Cavaliers climb back into their second-round series against the Detroit Pistons with a 116-109 win in Game 3. Detroit still owns a 2-1 series lead.

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Starts to games have been an issue for the Cavs throughout the first two games of the series. They’ve lost the first half by 13 and 11 in the first two games of the series.

That trend turned around in Game 3, or at least it did after the first three minutes.

Detroit got out to a quick seven-point lead after Duncan Robinson and Cunningham hit two tough contested triples right out of the gates.

The Cavs settled in from there. They found a way to get into the paint in the opening frame. Mitchell and Jarrett Allen led the charge, as each delivered nine points in the first quarter, leading to a narrow two-point advantage after one.

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Cleveland broke things open in the second quarter with the same formula they had in the first. They got into the teeth of the defense at will, and Detroit didn’t have an answer.

The Cavs went 13-15 on shots in the restricted area in the first half. By comparison, they had just 25 attempts at the rim in the first two games combined.

Mitchell was responsible for this turnaround. After taking just one shot in the restricted area in the first two games combined, he went 4-5 on shots in the restricted area. Once Mitchell gets going inside, the whole game opens up for him.

Spida scored 20 points in the first half, with nine coming in the second quarter. And when he wasn’t scoring for himself, he was finding avenues for his teammates to get going. This included Evan Mobley, who had seven points in the second alone.

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On the other end, the Cavs did a good job of locking down the paint. The Pistons weren’t able to get anything easy inside. After making their first two…

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Publish date : 2026-05-09 21:56:00

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