James Harden had been the story of what went wrong for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first two games. On Sunday in Game 3, he was the story of what went right.
Harden hit three consecutive big shots in the final three minutes, Max Strus produced the game’s defining play with a midcourt steal and layup, and the Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons, 116-109, to cut the series deficit to 2-1. Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 35 points and 10 rebounds. Harden finished with 19 and Jarrett Allen added 18. The Pistons’ five-game playoff winning streak is over.
Game 4 is Tuesday in Cleveland.
The Play That Won It for the Cavaliers
The game had 11 lead changes and was still on a knife’s edge with 2:28 remaining when Strus made the moment his own.
Cade Cunningham attempted to inbound the ball to Daniss Jenkins near midcourt. Strus timed his jump perfectly, intercepted the pass, drove past both Cunningham and Jenkins, and laid it in to give Cleveland a 106-104 lead. It was the final lead change of the game.
“My job is to help win in any form or fashion,” Strus said. “Some nights it’s going to be shooting. Some nights it’s going to be defense. Some nights it’s going to be rebounds. The ball didn’t find me tonight, but I don’t care. As long as our team wins, I just want to make an impact and find a way to win.”
Atkinson called it the winning play of the game. Harden agreed. “That was a game changer right there. It gives us a lead, get a couple stops and a couple buckets and that’s the game,” he said.
Harden Takes Care of the Rest
What followed the Strus steal was exactly what the Cavaliers needed from Harden after two frustrating games in Detroit. He hit a 16-foot step-back jumper to extend the lead to 108-104. After Cunningham answered with a driving dunk, Harden floated in a 7-footer to push it back to four. Cunningham responded again with a three-pointer, but Harden had the final word—a step-back three-pointer from distance with 25 seconds remaining while being guarded by Tobias Harris, making it 113-109 and ending any serious doubt.
“He’s always consistent. He’s not result based,” Mitchell said of Harden. “We’ve seen him play at a very high level, so we have no doubt that he’s going to continue to be great. Every game might not be that way for him, for me, for whoever. But it’s just how do you continue to stay even keel and find ways to impact the game.”
Mitchell himself reached 2,000 career postseason points during the game, arriving there in his 73rd playoff game—tied for third-fastest among active players and ninth in NBA history.
Cunningham’s Night Was Complicated
Cade Cunningham posted his second career postseason triple-double—27 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. He also committed 8 turnovers, 3 of them in the crucial closing stretch that the Cavaliers exploited to secure the win. The Strus steal was the first of 3 straight Cunningham turnovers late.
“I don’t want to say they were careless turnovers because I care about it a lot. They were just bad turnovers,” Cunningham said.
Harris added 21 points for Detroit in a losing effort.
One Win Changes the Conversation
The Cavaliers, the No. 4 seed, came into Game 3 having collapsed in the clutch in both games in Detroit—and responded with exactly the kind of composed, late-game execution the series had been lacking. Harden bounced back. Strus made the play nobody expected. Mitchell was Mitchell.
“We know how important it is to get this first win to make it a series. So, really a team win where a lot of guys contributed tonight,” Atkinson said.
The series is 2-1. Detroit still leads. But the Cavaliers have their belief back—and home court for Game 4.
