Cleveland went to Detroit without a road win during this playoff run. They dropped all three road games against the Raptors forcing them to win a game seven. They lost the first two games of this semifinal series against the Pistons, before last night. Let's talk about game five!
Cleveland Cavaliers DEF Detroit Pistons 117-113 OT (CLE Leads Series 3-2)
Four quarters were not enough to determine who was the better team in game five. A true back and forth game. The Pistons won the first quarter by just two points before picking up the pace in the second quarter. The Pistons took a lead of eight into halftime. Just like in game four the Cavaliers came out swinging in the third quarter. They won the quarter by twelve points holding the Pistons to just twenty points. The strong third quarter put the Cavs up four points heading to the all important fourth quarter. With three minutes left in the fourth quarter Tobias Harris knocked down a corner three to extend the Pistons lead to nine, 103-94. With under three minutes left the Cavs would need to play perfect basketball to erase the deficit. While it wasn't a perfect final three minutes, it was all but perfect. The Cavaliers made up the nine point gap with just over forty seconds left. The Pistons miss their final two shot attempts then Ausar Thompson strips the ball from Mitchell bleeding the final few seconds off the clock to force overtime. The overtime period started with a dunk by Jarrett Allen giving the Cavaliers a lead that they would never surrender. They went on to win overtime by a score of fourteen to ten. Now let's talk about a few key players in this series.
Cade Cunningham
Cunningham has been nothing short of electric this series. He had a triple double in game three and a double double in game two. He has only been held under twenty points once in his post season career, the game four loss to the Cavaliers. Last night he tied his postseason career high in points scoring thirty nine. Adding to his thirty nine points he also pulled down seven rebounds and logged nine assists. He set a postseason career high in three pointers made last night in game five with six. Even with career highs in a few stat categories it was still not enough to push the Pistons past the Cavs. Cade will need another career game if the Pistons are to win game six on the road to send the series back to Detroit for a game seven.
James Harden
James Harden has been a key to the Cavaliers success in games four and game five. Last night he scored thirty points, grabbed eight rebounds and assisted on six of the Cavaliers buckets. A postseason high in points. Of the thirty points he scored eleven of the points came from the free throw line where he shot seventy eight percent from the line. Since game three Harden has stepped up in a big way for the Cavaliers. He has increased his scoring over the last three games and adds to his effectiveness averaging eight assists and over one block. Harden isn't back to being prime Harden but he is getting pretty close. If he continues this pace in all statistical categories it will be a big reason why the Cavaliers advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
There are no NBA games on tonight setting up a great night of playoff basketball Friday night. Game six in the Piston and Cavaliers series tips off at 7:00 pm on Prime Video followed by game six in the Spurs and Timberwolves series at 9:30 pm on the same network.
As always Who Dey & Go Redlegs!
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