Cavs Tie the Second Round With 112-103 Win

*** The Cavs and Pistons went into the halftime locker room after a tight, tense opening stanza that featured three ties and nine lead-changes, with Detroit up four at the break.

Then, Donovan Mitchell happened.

After a sluggish first half, the Wine and Gold’s superstar guard went nuclear after intermission – erupting for 39 of his 43 points, keying a 22-0 run to start the third quarter that essentially kayoed the Pistons for the night as Cleveland evened the Eastern Conference Semis with a demonstrative 112-103 win at Rocket Arena.

James Harden scored 11 points in the first five minutes of the game, and Evan Mobley demonstrated why he was last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, but it was Mitchell who did the heavy lifting on Monday night, tying an NBA playoff record for points in a half when his team needed him most.

Through the first two quarters, Mitchell was 1-for-8 from the floor, including 1-of-5 from long-range and 1-for-2 from the stripe. But he came out of the halftime locker room like Superman out of a phone booth – exploding for 21 points in the third quarter and adding 18 in the fourth, going 12-for-18 from the field and 12-of-13 from the stripe and sending the series back to Detroit on Wednesday night, with the Second Round now boiling down to a best-of-three.

Monday’s masterpiece was Mitchell’s third straight outing topping the 30-point plateau, his fifth of the 2026 postseason. It was also his fourth 40-point playoff game as a member of the Cavaliers; eighth of his career.

“(In the first half) I wasn't getting downhill like I had in Game 3,” said Mitchell. “And sure, yeah, I scored a lot of points, but I was just trying to find ways to get early offense and shots started to fall. And the biggest thing was just trying to just create advantages wherever I saw them and for the group and not force things.”

For all his greatness, Cleveland’s seven-time All-Star got plenty of help in Monday’s win.

After sealing the victory with three straight late buckets in Game 3, James Harden was good again in Game 4 – finishing with 24 points on 5-of-9 shooting from long-distance and 9-of-9 from the stripe, handing out a game-high 11 assists to go with four steals and a block while committing just two turnovers on the night.

Evan Mobley was the only other Cavalier in double-figures, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds and five assists. The 5^th-year man from USC was absolutely dominant on the defensive end, blocking five shots – two more than Detroit as a team – and finishing with three steals. In 39 minutes of work, Mobley’s plus/minus number was +30.

“He was everywhere tonight,” said Coach Kenny Atkinson. “Clogging the lane and doing it with great discipline. I said it pregame, but I don't know what the traditional stats say, but we know in our locker room how great he's playing. He just plays winning basketball. He affects winning on both ends. Don's gonna get all the flowers, but we should give a lot of flowers to Evan Mobley for tonight's performance.”

For the second straight game, Cleveland completely flummoxed Detroit’s starters, including Cade Cunningham – who turned the ball over five times – Jalen Duren – who finished with eight points and more personal fouls (5) than rebounds (2) – and Ausar Thompson – who was a -27 in 18 minutes of action.

The Pistons’ two best players on Monday night were both reserves: Caris LeVert, who led Detroit with 24 points and Paul Reed, who scored 15 points in 14 minutes off the bench.

Overall, Detroit shot 51 percent from the floor, outrebounded the Cavs by two boards and outscored them in the paint, 50-34. But the Pistons also committed 20 turnovers that Cleveland converted into 25 points and took three less free throws as a team (12) than Donovan Mitchell attempted individually (15). On the night, the Cavs shot 44 percent from the field, but were 30-for-34 from the stripe.

The Wine and Gold are now 6-0 at home in the postseason and 19-3 overall dating back to January 23. They haven’t dropped a game at Rocket Arena since March 25.

“Going into Game 5 after winning two games, it's a lot of momentum, but we have to learn the win on the road,” said Jarrett Allen, who blocked two more shots on Monday, giving him 22 in the 2026 postseason. “We still have a lot of things that we need to figure out and hopefully we can build off on this win.”

*** As good as the Cavaliers have been on their home floor, they’ll have to win one on the road – something they haven’t done yet in these playoffs – if they want to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018. Game 5 goes down on Wednesday night in Motown, with Game 6 set for Friday night back here in Cleveland. If the two squads split those two, the decisive Game 7 matchup would go down on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena.