Cade Cunningham scored 25 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, and had 10 assists on Thursday, leading the Detroit Pistons to a 107-97 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers and a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
“Cade is just fabulous,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He’s the killer, the closer, all the adjectives you want to talk about. He’s it. In the fourth quarter, he does his best work.”
Tobias Harris added 21 points, Duncan Robinson put up 17 points and Daniss Jenkins contributed 14 for the Pistons, who also won the opener of the best-of-seven set by 10 points on Tuesday. Harris never scored 20 points in consecutive games during the 2025-26 regular season, but he has reached that mark in the past seven playoff games.
“It’s the understanding of what the moment calls for, and that’s what this group is finding,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s not always a shot. A lot of times you grow up, it’s offense, offense, offense. But we found rebounds, we found deflections, we found steals, we guarded the pick-and-roll the right way. So it’s like understanding what the moment calls for and then being able to execute it in the moment.”
Donovan Mitchell poured in 31 points and Jarrett Allen added 22 points and seven rebounds for the Cavaliers, who hit only 7 of 32 3-point attempts (21.9%).
Game 3 is Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers made three of their first five shots at the start of the fourth quarter to go up 81-79, their first lead since they scored the first basket of the game. The Pistons responded with a 10-2 run, capped by a Robinson 3-pointer, to regain control.
Cleveland, which missed all 11 of its 3-point attempts in the final period, could get no closer than three points as Cunningham helped Detroit pull away.
The Cavaliers committed 20 turnovers in Game 1, and the problem persisted early in Game 2, when Cleveland struggled to handle Detroit’s physical defense. The Pistons used an 11-3 run late in the first period to push their lead to 11 points on a Jenkins hoop. Detroit controlled the tempo and energy on both ends to take a 25-18 lead after one.
“Another not a great start for that starting group,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “So we know the deal here. I gotta look at everything. Is there a jolt from somewhere? We just got to look at everything. We tried to change up our coverages, tried to be a little more aggressive to get our mojo going.
“I don’t know what it is with the start of games. They came out super aggressive, of course, but it’s playoffs, so obviously I haven’t figured that one out. Still back to the drawing board.”
Mitchell opened the second quarter with a basket that pulled Cleveland within five, but the Cavaliers never could fully capitalize against Detroit’s physical defense. The Cavaliers also missed several open 3-point looks that could have shifted momentum. Detroit pushed its lead to as many as 14 points on a Robinson trey with 1:21 left in the quarter and carried a 54-43 advantage into halftime.
Cleveland seized control in the third quarter by ramping up its defensive pressure and finally finding a rhythm offensively. Mitchell sparked the turnaround with 11 points. The Cavaliers steadily chipped away at the deficit and pulled within 76-75 on James Harden’s pull-up jumper with 17.5 seconds remaining, but Jenkins’ 30-foot 3-pointer ended the period and put Detroit up by four.
“I’ll just say, I think we found some stuff tonight that gives us some positive feeling going into Game 3, you know, tactically,” Atkinson said. “… A lot of positives in that second half.”
Veteran Cleveland guard Sam Merrill missed the game because of a left hamstring injury. Detroit’s Kevin Huerter missed his fifth consecutive game due to a left adductor strain.
–Field Level Media
