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DETROIT — After the game, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson was asked what it took for this team to overcome a nine-point deficit in the final three minutes to complete the comeback.
James Harden, who was waiting in the back of the press-conference room for his coach to finish up, thought he would just answer it himself.
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“Balls,” Harden said.
While crass, it’s the truth.
The Cavaliers have been called soft for years, and understandably so. They’ve folded in the biggest moments too often in the previous three years not to be called that.
However, this isn’t that team. At least it wasn’t in Game 5.
The Cavs were down nine against the Detroit Pistons with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. The building was on fire. The hometown fans were celebrating what they assumed would be a win. Any momentum that the Cavs had from a strong second half was completely gone.
But then they did something that they hadn’t previously done. They got off the mat.
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The Cavs counterpunched with a Donovan Mitchell layup and seven-straight points from Evan Mobley. This was coupled with stifling defense on the other end, as they didn’t give Cade Cunningham anything easy going to the basket.
Cleveland needed overtime to get this game over the line, but they got the job done 117-113.
It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win. And probably the best victory this group has had since LeBron James was last in town.
Now, they just need one more win to go to the Eastern Conference Finals.
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This game was why you grabbed James Harden at the deadline. President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman’s reasoning at the time was simple.
“[We’re] really excited about when it gets to a chaotic time in the playoffs and we’re on the road, and there’s a fever pitch, being able to throw the ball to him and calm this thing down,” Altman said back in February.
Those words proved to be prophetic….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/13-takeaways-cavs-game-5-053221882.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-14 05:32:00
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