Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell is one win away from exorcising the ghost of playoffs past, but he knows that victory will not come easy.
The Cavaliers lead their Eastern Conference semifinal series over the top-seeded Detroit Pistons 3-2, setting up a potential clincher in Game 6 on Friday night in Cleveland.
Seven-time All-Star Mitchell, who has qualified for the playoffs in all nine NBA seasons with the Utah Jazz (2017-22) and Cleveland, is seeking his first trip to a conference finals. It’s a significant blemish on his career resume.
“My mind can’t even go there because we haven’t done that yet, we haven’t accomplished that,” said Mitchell, who is averaging a series-high 30.6 points. “Of course, I want to get to the highest level, but putting myself aside, this is good for the group.
“It’s 3-2. It’s not over.”
Fourth-seeded Cleveland pulled off a stunning comeback in Game 5 in Detroit, scoring the final nine points in regulation to force overtime in what became a 117-113 victory Wednesday. It marked the first win by a road team in the series.
Evan Mobley scored the Cavaliers’ last seven points in the fourth quarter and Mitchell had seven points without missing a shot in OT. Cleveland hit the Pistons with a 13-0 run bridging the two periods, holding them scoreless for exactly five minutes.
“We were playing with desperation,” Mobley said. “You need to get stops and we really wanted this one. We need big shots in the playoffs, and right now I feel good about taking them.”
James Harden was dynamic for the Cavaliers with 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 43 minutes, Mobley had a near triple-double with 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Mitchell scored 21 points after shooting just 4-of-15 in regulation.
All-Star guard Cade Cunningham stuffed the stat sheet with 39 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for Detroit, but he was limited to one basket in the final 11 1/2 minutes while being blanketed by Cleveland’s Max Strus.
The Pistons did receive secondary scoring from Daniss Jenkins, who had a career playoff-high 19 points, but All-Star center Jalen Duren had just nine points and five rebounds before being benched for the entire fourth quarter and OT.
“As long as we get the win, I’m good,” Duren said calmly. “It obviously didn’t come out how we wanted it to, but like I’ve said, we need to regroup.
“Obviously, it was an emotional loss, but we’re still alive. We need to come back and bring it back to Detroit.”
The Pistons will be in a win-or-go home scenario for the fourth time this spring, having rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the first round in eliminating the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic. They did split two games in Cleveland in the regular season.
Detroit also has a chip on its collective shoulder after watching Harden receive 14 free-throw attempts in Game 5, while it attempted 20 as a team. It also believed Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen fouled Ausar Thompson on a loose ball as time expired in the fourth.
But the official NBA report on the final two minutes and OT ruled that crew chief Tony Brothers were correct on every call and no-call, including the latter involving Allen and Thompson.
“We knew it was a foul, but we don’t expect it,” Jenkins said. “That didn’t linger into overtime. We just didn’t execute well enough down the stretch.”
The only players listed on either team’s injury report are Pistons guards Duncan Robinson (low back soreness), Caris LeVert (right heel contusion) and Kevin Huerter (left adductor strain), who are all questionable. Robinson sat out Game 5.
Cleveland is 6-0 in the playoffs at home this season and 70-30 all-time in its downtown arena, including 11-1 all-time against the Pistons. The Cavaliers have not advanced to the East finals without LeBron James on their roster in 34 years.
