The Detroit Pistons could taste a win, which would have put them one victory from the conference finals after a frenetic fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Instead, the Cavs used a late run to take control of the series Wednesday, May 13. They scored the final nine points of the fourth quarter to force overtime, then the first four in OT and held on to win Game 5, 117-113, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit to take a 3-2 series lead.
The 4-seed Cavs have won three games in a row in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals, and can close out the 1-seed Pistons in Game 6 on Friday night in Cleveland. The Cavs are 6-0 at home in these playoffs; the Pistons are 1-4 on the road.
Cade Cunningham scored a game-high 39 points Wednesday.
The Pistons were on the wrong side of a controversial no-call to end regulation, when Ausar Thompson appeared to be tripped going for a loose ball by Jarrett Allen. The Cavs were over the foul limit, and Thompson would have shot free throws with roughly a second left. He made two free throws earlier in the quarter.
“There was incidental contact with the legs with no player having possession of the ball,” crew chief Tony Brothers said in the postgame pool report. “The play will be reviewed by the league office tomorrow and it will be posted in the L2M [last two minutes report].”
James Harden led the Cavs with 30 points. Donovan Mitchell was limited to 21 points on 7-for-18 shooting. He hit his only 3-pointer in overtime from the right corner.
Third-string center Paul Reed played over Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart in the fourth quarter and overtime for the Pistons.
Here are six takeaways from Game 5:
How Cavs controlled overtime vs Pistons
Cleveland opened overtime with a 9-2 run. Mitchell (21 points) knocked down a 3-pointer from the right corner, his only made 3 of the game, with 2:40 left. A steal by Max Strus (20 points, eight rebounds) on Cunningham in the backcourt and pass to a cutting Mitchell for a right-hand layup extended the Cavaliers’ lead to 112-105 with 2:29 to play.
A 6-1 Pistons run followed to cut the deficit 113-111 with 25.9 seconds mark after Cunningham hit a foot-on-the-line 2-pointer.
The following possession, Harden made the first free throw, but rebounded the second free throw after back-rimming it, with Cunningham seemingly missing the box-out assignment. With 18.8 seconds left, Harden again made the first but missed the second for a 115-111 lead.
Tobias Harris (13 points, 6-for-19 shooting) and Daniss Jenkins (19 points) each missed a 3-pointer on the other end, and Evan Mobley iced the game with two more free throws with 3.4 seconds left. Mobley finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three blocks.
The Cavaliers trimmed a nine-point Pistons lead to 103-101 with a 3-pointer from Mobley with 1:22 remaining. Harris missed a 3 on the other end, and Mobley tied the game with two free throws with 45.2 seconds left for the 9-0 run.
The Pistons’ final possession of the fourth ended with a bad shot from Caris LeVert that missed everything, but Thompson blocked Mitchell’s game-winning attempt with a few seconds left.
Jenkins received his first start of the playoffs in place of Duncan Robinson, who was ruled out due to lower back soreness.
Reed tallied 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks while playing the entire fourth quarter and overtime.
Thompson tallied six points, seven rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks, most of that damage in the first quarter.
Kevin Huerter returned from a seven-game absence with a left adductor strain and checked in with 6:40 remaining in the first quarter, to applause from the home crowd. He played just 3:22 and recorded an assist.
The Pistons also turned to Marcus Sasser to provide spacing without Robinson. Sasser, a third-year guard, played a playoff-high 16 minutes and made a first-half jumper.
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Pistons’ electric rally in frenzied 4th quarter
Cunningham opened the fourth with a 3-pointer and midrange jumper to give the Pistons the lead, 85-84.
But Harden, who led Cleveland with 17 points in the second half and was in classic foul-drawing form, drew a foul on Harris on a 3-pointer. Harden made all three free throws, giving the Cavs an 89-85 lead with 9:55 to play.
A 12-0 Pistons run followed, though. Reed played the entirety of the fourth quarter and tied the game with a jump hook, then grabbed an offensive rebound and putback dunk.
Cunningham’s sixth 3-pointer, followed by an electric block by Reed at the rim on Harden – his former teammate in Philadelphia – and transition 3-pointer by Jenkins gave the Pistons a 95-89 lead.
Thompson capped the run with a thunderous block on Allen before knocking down two free throws, pushing the lead to eight. With three minutes to go, Harris made a line-drive corner 3-pointer after an offensive rebound from Reed to lead 103-94, before the Cavaliers’ tying run.
Pistons bench Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart for Paul Reed
“B-Ball Paul” checked into the game for the first time at the start of the fourth quarter and played the entire period over Duren, tallying four points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Reed remained in the game for all of overtime and scored the Pistons’ first four points. He finished with 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting, eight rebounds (four offensive) and two blocks in 17 minutes.
It marked the third straight game the Pistons turned to Reed in the second half. He played over Duren for most of the third quarters in both Games 3 and 4, but Wednesday was his most-involved role yet as far as closing out a game.
Duren finished with nine points, five rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes. The Pistons were outscored by 16 with him on the court.
Stewart had eight points, two rebounds and a block in 11 minutes, with the Pistons winning those by 12 points.
Pistons start strong, Cavaliers answer in second half
The Pistons led by as many as 15 in the first half after opening the second quarter with an 18-5 run. They made their first eight shots of the period, capped with a pair of midrange jumpers from Harris, followed by a steal by Jenkins and alley-oop lob to Thompson in transition, to give them a 47-32 lead.
After scoring 20 points off 10 Cavaliers turnovers in the first half, the Pistons lost momentum in the third as Cleveland cleaned up its ball control issues. After cutting the lead to 60-52 at halftime, the Cavaliers opened the third with a 16-8 run to tie the game at 68.
A Sam Merrill 3-pointer with 1:59 on the clock gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the second half, 79-78. The Pistons trailed 84-80 entering the fourth after they were outscored in the third quarter 32-20, shooting 6-for-18 overall and forcing just two turnovers.
Daniss Jenkins shines in first playoff start
After back-to-back duds in Cleveland, Jenkins immediately looked more comfortable on his home floor.
The 24-year-old second-year guard started the night with a bang, scoring the Pistons’ first seven points of the game. He knocked down back-to-back shots from the corners, one a 3-pointer, the other a long 2-pointer with his foot on the line, before finishing a hook in the lane to give the Pistons an early 7-2 lead.
Jenkins scored two points in each of Games 3 and 4 on the road, shooting 1-for-9 combined. But he has had coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s trust throughout the postseason due to his ballhandling and ability to rise to the moment and was inserted into the starting lineup over both Huerter and LeVert, who would’ve provided more size along with shotmaking.
The former two-way contract guard continued to deliver in the fourth, during which he scored six points including a late 3-pointer that extended the lead to nine.
Isaiah Stewart finally looks like himself again
Bickerstaff confirmed before the game that Stewart, who has had a quiet series against the Cavaliers while lacking his usual physicality at the rim, is fully healthy. Stewart, in turn, put together his most emphatic half in weeks.
Stewart checked in toward the end of the first quarter and immediately knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, extending the lead to 29-25. They were his first attempts from the beyond the arc since Game 5 of the first round against the Orlando Magic, and first 3-point makes since Game 4.
He followed with a signature defensive possession early in the second quarter, stuffing a layup attempt by Cavaliers forward Jaylon Tyson and then wrestling the rebound away from him. Tyson then appeared to strike Stewart’s arm with his forearm in frustration, and was whistled for technical foul as the officials ruled the possession a jump ball.
It was Stewart’s first block since Game 5 against the Magic – he went six straight games without a single rejection, a bizarre and uncharacteristic stretch for one of the league’s best shot-blockers. (He had a historic eight blocks in 17 minutes in Game 4 in Orlando.) Stewart helped the Pistons stay in control in the first half, checking back out at the 6:36 mark of the second quarter with the Pistons up 47-32.
He played just 2:41 in the second half, all in the third quarter, with Bickerstaff going with Reed over both him and Duren.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pistons fold late in Game 5 OT heartbreaker to James Harden, Cavaliers
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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