hellas verona - como does not belong to this game, but the Cavaliers’ 116-109 win over the Pistons on Saturday did. Donovan Mitchell scored 35 points with 10 rebounds, and Cleveland trimmed Detroit’s lead to 2-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The win mattered because Cleveland had been in trouble late in the first two games, then spent Game 3 in a possession-by-possession fight that featured 11 lead changes. Mitchell reached 2,000 career playoff points in his 73rd playoff game, tying him for the third fastest among active players and ninth fastest in NBA history.
Strus flips the fourth quarter
Max Strus made the play that turned the last stretch. With 2:28 remaining, he intercepted a Detroit inbound pass and scored a layup to put Cleveland ahead 106-104. James Harden followed with a 16-foot fadeaway jumper, then a seven-foot floater to push the margin back to four.
Harden finished with 19 points, while Jarrett Allen added 18. Strus had seven points, five rebounds and one steal, but his late theft carried the heaviest weight because it gave Cleveland control before the final minute. He later said, “Mi trabajo es ayudar a ganar de cualquier forma.”
Cunningham’s triple-double
Cade Cunningham kept Detroit close with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, but the eight turnovers undercut that line. He said, “No quiero decir que fueron pérdidas de balón descuidadas porque me importa mucho. Simplemente fueron malas pérdidas de balón.”
Detroit still entered the final 25 seconds within reach, until Harden hit a backward three-pointer to make it 113-109. After the game, he said, “Eso cambió el partido ahí mismo. Nos da una ventaja, conseguimos un par de paradas y un par de canastas y ésa fue la clave.”
Game 4 in Cleveland
Kenny Atkinson called the night a team win and pointed to Strus’s steal and layup as the winning play. He said, “Sabemos lo importante que es conseguir esta primera victoria para que se prolongue la serie. Así que, realmente, ha sido una victoria de equipo en la que muchos chicos contribuyeron esta noche.”
The series now shifts back to Cleveland for Game 4 on Monday, with the Cavaliers needing another clean finish to keep the pressure on Detroit after the Pistons took the first two games. Mitchell’s scoring and Harden’s late shot gave Cleveland the answer it needed in Game 3, and the margin is back to one game.
