Cleveland Cavs Tie Series At 2-2 After Explosive Donovan Mitchell 2nd Half Vs. Detroit Pistons

On Monday night, the Cleveland Cavs played two distinctly different halves of basketball, but they ultimately made sense of that variance in the end with a 112-103 win over the Detroit Pistons in game four, which tied the series at two victories apiece. 

During the first half, the Pistons were using Ausar Thompson to guard Donovan Mitchell in a dynamic matchup of an elite isolation scorer up against a premier on-ball defender, and Mitchell posted just four points in the first half. But after the break, the Louisville product exploded for 39 points in the second half, which tied an NBA record for the most playoff points over a two-quarter timespan. 

With 43 points, five rebounds and two assists to his credit, Mitchell succeeded in his goal of being more aggressive after halftime to help the Cavs defend their home court. 

“I apologized to the group," Mitchell said after the game. "I set the tone in game three, came downhill in transition, and I don’t think I did that one time in the first half. For me, that’s the catalyst, so it’s not just always the scoring, right? I was able to get in the paint and score, but trying to at least create confusion, trying to set the tone early on offense and I didn’t do that in the first half.”

With a determined Mitchell leading the charge, Cleveland came out with a dominant 22-point run to begin the second half that essentially put the Pistons in catch-up mode for the rest of the game. Detroit was able to claw back a few points in the fourth quarter once Paul Reed came into the game for Jalen Duren, but the Pistons committed too many turnovers and weren’t able to reach the free throw line enough to close the gap with the Cavs in game four. 

From an offensive perspective, Cade Cunningham scored 19 points, dished out six assists and grabbed four rebounds on the night, which marked the first playoff performance of his career without reaching the 20-point threshold. Cunningham struggled to deal with the Cleveland double-team at times, and the Cavs’ defensive pressure forced the Detroit All-Star into committing five turnovers in the nine-point loss. 

But when evaluating the Pistons’ performance on Monday night, it is clear that Detroit needs more production from Duren to compete with Cleveland’s two big men down low. Duren scored just eight points for the latest let-down in a string of disappointing playoff performances for the first-time All-Star. In 27 minutes, Duren was responsible for eight points, two rebounds and two assists, while one of his backups, Paul Reed, posted 15 points, four rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes of action himself. 

That production pattern mirrors game three where Reed nearly equalled Duren’s end-of-game production despite playing three times fewer minutes than the 6-10 starting center. But with the series headed back to Motown for a crucial game five matchup, Reed should receive a bit of added burn moving forward with how hot he’s been of late. During the playoffs, the willingness to ride the hot hand can be the decisive factor in a series that’s deadlocked after four games, so Reed needs to play more in games five and six if the Pistons are interested in swinging the momentum back in the Motor City squad’s direction. 

On the positive end, the Pistons did receive a major boost from Caris LeVert during the game four matchup. LeVert, who failed to score 20 points at any point during the regular season, had an offensive barrage of his own with 24 points on 10-for-16 shooting, and his reserve effort provided a key lift and is part of the reason why Detroit was able to cut the lead to single-digits before time expired. 

Now, the Pistons will look to regroup before game five at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday, May 13. 

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