NBA | Playoffs 2026

Pistons find spark as Cade Cunningham’s final five minutes told the whole story

Detroit’s grit carried over from a dramatic first-round comeback as the Pistons struck first against a wounded Cavaliers team.

GREGORY SHAMUS

Anton Vakula Calum Roche

Update: May 6th, 2026 02:22 EDT

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When the Detroit Pistons’ historic season looked ready to disappear before their eyes against the Orlando Magic, J.B. Bickerstaff’s men found grit, heart and courage to come back from 3-1 down and earn another chance to dream big in the playoffs. In Game 1 of the conference semifinals, they leaned on the same ingredients that had powered their recent feat and took down the Cleveland Cavaliers, 111-101, with both teams arriving physically battered.

Cade Cunningham, far from sparkling, finished with 23 points, seven assists and 6-for-19 shooting, but he acted like a true leader when his team needed him most. Donovan Mitchell, with 23 points, and James Harden, with 22, were both well below their best – the level their team will need if it hopes to go anywhere. Tobias Harris had 20, Duncan Robinson added 19 on 5-for-8 shooting from three, and Jalen Duren delivered 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Pistons seize control early

Both teams had fought to the end in the first round, carrying 14 games between them and more weight on their shoulders than expected before the playoffs began. But the Pistons had reason simply to be grateful for where they were after overturning a 3-1 deficit against a team that has since fired its coach, Jamahl Mosley, after the incident.

The Cavs, unable to win on the road against the Toronto Raptors – zero wins in three attempts – traveled to one of the toughest arenas in the league. While the East’s spotlight is on the New York Knicks, now favorites to be the last team standing in the conference, it was the Pistons who led this side of the map in the regular season: 60 wins, a complete turnaround from just 14 two seasons ago. Bickerstaff’s work has been titanic, remarkable.

Cunningham, in his constant role as a silent killer, a natural leader and one of the league’s best guards, scored 227 points against Orlando. No one in the NBA scored more in the first round. The guard started hot, and his teammates followed. Detroit ran, rebounded and flew out on the break. The first meaningful lead belonged to the home team.

Detroit’s arena starts to roar

Cunningham hit his eighth point and made it 28-14 with a three after nine minutes. The hosts had already doubled their opponent’s score. Just as the wound seemed to be opening into a long-term hemorrhage, Max Strus, who finished with 19, drilled a three that looked like a makeshift bandage.

But Javonte Green had other plans. A blow where it hurt most: the shot dropped from 30 feet, and the scoreboard reflected the run of play at 37-21. The Motor City was already roaring.

On the other side, Mitchell – the second-highest scorer in playoff openers in history at 33.1 points per game, behind only Michael Jordan – rode alone on a limping horse. Still, he made his shots. After 14 minutes, he had half of Cleveland’s 28 points. Alone in danger, without support anywhere.

At that pace, one point per minute, he was on course for 48. But that is exactly why the phrase is used: there is always a road ahead, usually full of obstacles. And Cleveland’s road was not just ahead of them – it was on top of them. In a game muddied by contact, loose-ball battles and rebounds that could fall either way, the fight continued. By halftime, neither the scoreboard nor the rhythm had changed much: 59-46.

Cleveland waits too long

The game lived in a comfortable limbo for Detroit, while Kenny Atkinson’s team waited like scavengers for some Pistons mistake that would bring them within range for the closing minutes. The problem with that strategy is that taking a passive stance while losing on the road is rarely the best option. If the Cavs did not go on the attack, their chances would slowly melt away like candlelight.

It was a copied-and-pasted dynamic from the first round, when Cleveland were almost always chasing on the road and the exact opposite at home. The numbers spoke for themselves: 0-3 away, 4-0 at home. But who else but Mitchell, the lone rider, this time without help from the bearded man who should have been his squire, pushed the Cavs into action. A 10-2 run made it 77-74. They had not needed much to get very close.

Robinson and Duren change the mood

Then came an incredible Ron Holland three at the third-quarter buzzer – already Detroit’s second similar play of the game – to make it 83-76 heading into the fourth. More important than the score was the emotional shift it created. It lit the arena and the players, who suddenly saw no way they could let the game slip away.

A small scuffle between Dennis Schröder and Robinson marked the beginning of the end for Cleveland. Bickerstaff’s team went up a couple of gears, and Robinson, having a superb game, buried a three after an offensive rebound from Duren – Detroit had 13 offensive boards to Cleveland’s seven – to restore the comfortable third-quarter margin at 91-82. On the next play came a Robinson and-one, followed by a clash with Harden that ended in double technicals.

But when everything seemed finished, Harden, reborn, led an 11-0 run with nine straight points – the same number he had scored in the rest of the game – and tied it at 93-93 with five minutes left. The cards were on the table. All that remained was to play the final hand.

And there, when the ball weighed most, Cunningham appeared as an absolute leader: three straight assists for three Duren dunks, then a floater that dropped. Meanwhile, Mitchell missed from the field and at the line. The two faces of the game: the star who shines, and the one who fades.

The team that still has not learned how to win away from home, and the one that has been strong in front of its people all season. The natural order of things, where the only certainty is that Detroit need three more wins to taste the conference finals again – 18 seasons later.