Cavs blow perfect opportunity to punch ticket to conference finals, lose 115-94 to Pistons

CLEVELAND — Before Game 6, Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said that you would have to “choke the life out of” his team. Those words proved to be prophetic.

The Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t up for the challenge. They didn’t value possessions like they needed to, and overall didn’t have the attention to detail you need to close out a 60-win opponent. That came back to bite them as they dropped their best chance to go to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2018 with a 115-94 loss in Game 6.

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Now, it all comes down to Game 7 in Detroit on Sunday.

The Cavs once again got off to a sloppy start, which has been a trend throughout the playoffs. Turnovers were once again to blame. Good three-point shooting allowed them to close the first quarter just down one, but the giveaways caught up with them in the second.

Detroit pushed its lead to 12 before Cleveland responded. A 7-0 run, capped off by a Max Strus triple, cut the deficit to just three at the break.

The Cavs had all the momentum going into the half. It seemed like they were going to turn things around and take control of the game coming out of the third quarter. Instead, it was the Pistons that did so.

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Detroit opened the third on a 14-4 run to push their advantage back to 13 and went into the fourth up 14.

Cleveland never mounted a serious comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. They weren’t able to bring the deficit below double digits as Detroit cruised to a somewhat stress-free victory.

The Cavs have talked this series about letting anyone but Cade Cunningham beat them. They weren’t able to do so. Instead, it was Cade and also everyone else who beat them.

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Cunningham was once again the best player on the court. He got to his spots and was efficient with the opportunities he got. This led to 21 points on 7-19 shooting with 8 assists.

This was in stark contrast with Cleveland’s star guards.

Donovan Mithell…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cavs-blow-perfect-opportunity-punch-014559708.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-16 01:45:00

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