DETROIT — If the real Dawg Pound had been nearby, the Cavaliers might not have collapsed down the stretch of Game 2.
But the Cavs were not in Cleveland on Thursday, May 7, and they fell apart in the clutch again, losing 107-97 to the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. The Cavs trail 2-0 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals with Game 3 set for 3 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at Rocket Arena.
The Cavs should be thrilled to return to Cleveland because they haven’t been able to get over the hump on the road this postseason. In the 2026 playoffs, they’re 0-5 as the visiting team.
The Cavs got away with this pesky fact in the first round because, as the fourth seed in the East, they had home-court advantage against the fifth-seeded Toronto Raptors. The home team won each game, and the Cavs advanced to meet the top-seeded Pistons in the second round.
Led by former Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff, the Pistons talk about being tough, yet they also back it up.
Stealing from the famous football stadium section traditionally occupied by rabid, dog bone-eating Browns fans, the Pistons have “The Dawg Pound” painted in white letters on a black wall in their locker room in downtown Detroit. They also display the phrase “All Dawg” throughout their arena.
Pistons centers Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart and former Detroit coach Drew Jones created a tradition by yelling “Dawg Pound” at each other whenever one of the big men would make a play classified as dirty work, according to a story by The Athletic.
The NBA regular season and playoffs practically feature different sports. True “Dawgs” thrive in the postseason. The Cavs are all bark and no bite on the road. It’s problematic because the Pistons have home-court advantage. The Cavs cannot advance to the Eastern Conference Finals without winning a game in Detroit.
It’s a daunting task because the Cavs often seem to be sluggish early and rattled late in playoff games on the road.
“I don’t really think it’s too psychological,” Cavs center Jarrett Allen said. “We come into every game with the utmost confidence in ourselves, the utmost confidence in everything that this organization does, how we prep for games. Winning on the road in the playoffs is tough.
“That’s just proven throughout the history of the NBA, and obviously we haven’t been the best at it. I think it’s just us making a lot of mistakes. It’s just a lot of times we speed ourselves up. We don’t play our basketball. We start out slow and those things compound into things that don’t win on the road.”
Winning on the road requires a level of mental fortitude the Cavs simply haven’t shown they possess.
The Cavs clawed back to take an 81-79 lead when forward Evan Mobley dunked on an assist from point guard Dennis Schroder with 10:19 left in the fourth quarter. It was their first lead since they went ahead 3-0 during the first possession of Game 2.
The Pistons, though, regained an advantage when guard Duncan Robinson drained a 3-pointer with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter. And Detroit never relinquished the lead again.
What little hope the Cavs had was dashed when point guard James Harden lost control of the ball with 33.3 seconds remaining and Pistons small forward Ausar Thompson stole it. The Pistons led by six points at the time and tacked on free throws to win by 10.
After the Cavs briefly went ahead in the fourth quarter, they were outscored 28-16 the rest of the way.
In Game 1 on May 5 in Detroit, the Cavs were outscored 18-8 by the Pistons after the score was tied 93-93 with 5:28 left.
Finishing strong on the road is merely a fantasy for the Cavs.
“I’d say it is mental, but teams tend to play a lot better at home,” Cavs forward Dean Wade said. “The energy of the fans and everything, it always works in the home team’s favor. I think we just got to play with more force, more energy and more focus, especially on the road games. You can’t have any slippage, and that’s what cost us.”
The Cavs are now 4-13 in playoff games on the road during the Donovan Mitchell era.
The Cavs will receive a chance to redeem themselves on the road in Game 5, provided they win at least one of the next two games in Cleveland.
The Pistons have already stolen “Dawg Pound” as a rallying cry. Don’t put it past them to steal the Cavs’ pride at home, either.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavaliers lack mental fortitude required on road in playoffs. Opinion
Reporting by Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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