Donovan Mitchell lifted off and brought the Cavs with him for a Game 7 win over the Pistons.
There is the belief that no greater challenge awaits a team than a Game 7, and this is only half true. It’s trying to win a Game 7 on the road. That demands the best of anyone, and the Cleveland Cavaliers just answered affirmatively and emphatically.
They went to Detroit and outplayed the top seed, in hostile environs, and punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals. If this required their best, then they just delivered it and did so in stunning fashion — with a 31-point wipeout win.
Not long after tipoff, the Cavs set the tenor and maintained it Sunday. They never let Cade Cunningham deny them, never let the crowd howl, never allowed the feeling that their Game 6 loss in Cleveland was a blown opportunity.
The Cavs shook free of all that and now, for the first time since LeBron James walked out that door in 2018, they’re four wins away from the NBA Finals.
As for the Pistons? This was an unexpected if not deflated ending to a season that was light years from two years ago, when they were adrift as a franchise.
“This was not a disappointment,” said Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff. “It’s a loss, a tough loss. The Cavs just outplayed us tonight.”
Here are the takeaways from Pistons-Cavaliers Game 7:
1. Donovan Mitchell sets tone, gets his milestone
He had no choice. It was either drag the Cavaliers to victory or drag that heavy sack — an inability to reach the conference finals — on his back into the summer and another season.
Mitchell chose the former. He was impressive. Based on his energy and determination from the jump Sunday, his language both verbal and bodily was loud and very clear: Enough is enough.
And so, after 77 career playoff victories and multiple playoff games of 50 and 40 points — only to come up a round short each time — Mitchell finally achieved his primary goal this season.
He did so very methodically and wisely. He mixed scoring with ball distribution, the latter a mild surprise, given that Mitchell doesn’t reflexively surrender the ball.
Not only did he go downhill for easy baskets, he also fed teammates, mainly Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, the two big men who are solid finishers.
His eight assists were his most in the playoffs and also since March 15 when he dished 11 against Dallas. He trusted his teammates and they returned the favor.
Of course, he also added 26 points and just as impressively, zero turnovers in 31 minutes.
Those totals really don’t explain his entire night or his impact and influence. This was the Donovan Mitchell the Cavs needed to see. With the exception of his second half of Game 5, his performance this series was not entirely up to his standards. All that changed in this Game 7.
“Tonight was for him,” said Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson. “All that he did for us this year, carried us … we have to acknowledge the incredible season this guy has had. I couldn’t be happier for him, to make that next step.”
2. Jarrett Allen brings his A-game
Allen, Afro, A-game, it all came up aces for the Cavs center who imposed his will in the paint, shook off defenders and anyone contesting for rebounds, and protected the rim with impunity. Allen was never better in these playoffs than he was Sunday, easily the second-most important player on the floor for Cleveland.
What made this night notable was how aggressive he was offensively. Normally, Allen tends to drift on that end of the floor, seldom asks for the ball (or gets it), scores mainly on opportunity and not set plays. This time, though, he made himself visible and gobbled inside feeds from Mitchell for dunks. And other times, instead of passing out to teammates, Allen scored when inside the paint.
Just totally energetic. And the results reflected as much — 23 points, seven rebounds. The point total was his highest of the playoffs and only the third time in 14 games he cracked 20.
“I ran the first play for him,” said Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson, inspired by a discussion with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, who cited Allen as a Game 7 X-factor. “You have to reward the bigs. Sometimes you have to be reminded.”
3. Sam Merrill makes the big 3s
The team with the most 3-pointers made won the previous five games, and so with that in mind, the Cavs’ designated deep shooter chose the right time to look for that shot.
Merrill isn’t a volume shooter, and that’s usually to the detriment of the Cavs because he’s their best from the arc. This time, he never hesitated on the 3-pointers. He took eight, and more importantly made five, both playoff highs, and each one seemed to sink the Pistons into a deeper hole.
He was on the floor 25 minutes, and he scored 23 points. On a night when James Harden struggled (0-for-6 on 3 pointers), Merrill was the safety net.
When Harden and Mitchell are drawing extra defensive attention, it’s up to players such as Merrill to make a difference. Not only did he do this, but in a Game 7, by far his biggest performance in the league, considering the circumstances.
4. Pistons just getting started
This was about the worst ending the Pistons could imagine.
They never matched the Cavs’ energy or sense of desperation. Their main players struggled in Game 7. They lost their composure at times, namely Ausar Thompson. They had no answers. And they failed to confirm their status as the top seed in the East.
Cunningham looked whipped over the final six quarters of the series. This was understandable. His energy was sapped. He had to endure a pair of seven-game series and he’s roughly two months removed from a collapsed lung. He couldn’t even make a 3-pointer Sunday. And remember, this is a player whose multiple contributions are such a key to everything good that happens to the Pistons.
He had little help from Jalen Duren, who was benched twice in this series and gradually outplayed by Allen and Mobley. Also, Tobias Harris, after stringing together 20-point playoff games and serving as the second option, fizzled through a Game 7 where he didn’t make a basket — shades of his final playoff game with the 76ers a few years ago.
But: This team isn’t on the same timeline as the Cavs. Cleveland for so many reasons needed this game more. The Pistons are just two years removed from a 14-win season. They had two All-Stars this time in Cunningham and Duren and both could make All-NBA while Thompson might make All-Defensive. The Pistons’ 2025-26 season deserves context, no matter how unsightly it ended. This was their deepest run since 2008.
“These guys have improved massively,” said Bickerstaff. “We will grow and be a better team.”
This defeat was in a sense a necessary learning experience for a mostly young core, a step toward something greater, and lots of distance was placed between now and two dreadful seasons ago. Those Pistons are done.
Their urgency clock hasn’t started yet. Next year, though.
* * *
Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at spowell@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
