Straightening Up
In scoring 39 points in the second half of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 112-103 Game 4 victory over the Detroit Pistons, Donovan Mitchell matched an NBA playoff record that he now shares with a Golden State Warrior: nope, it is not Wardell in this case. Sleepy Floyd, a Gastonia native who was once “misled” into a diplomatic trip to the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea with Dennis Rodman, posted the same number against the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in the 1987 West Semis.
Sticking on the floor through the final buzzer just in case, Mitchell finished with 43 points after a down first half in which Detroit had him swimming around defenders. When Cleveland went on a 24-0 run splitting the halves, Don poured in 15, shifting into the playoff mode to which we have grown accustomed between Salt Lake and here.
In a season-saving performance in Game 3, Mitchell posted a cool 35, with James Harden stepping into close in the final minutes. On Monday, Harden finished with 24 and 11, seizing the mantel surrounding the Cavs’ uneasy playmaking and allowing Mitchell the freedom to fail in the first half before hitting his marks in the second. Despite Spida’s dry first, Detroit only led by four, 56-52, at the half.
Seemingly in control at least of the tempo in the first half, Cade Cunningham finished with 19 points, fewer than 20 points for the first time in his playoff career. Though undoubtedly and frustratingly underwhelming for the many people who laid down their life savings on that streak continuing to the promo code DUNK, Cade was not the reason the Pistons collapsed on Monday night.
To wit, the indicative play: with the Cavs up 14 and a little over six minutes remaining in the fourth, Cunningham drew a virtual triple-team at the top of the key in a pick-and-roll with Jalen Duren, who proceeded to become extremely open in the dunker’s spot. Cade slang the rock in, and Duren, decidedly unprepared for part II of the pick-and-roll, sort of volleyball-forwarded the ball out of bounds at the last possible moment for it not to have flown by him entirely.
This is not winning basketball. Let’s see how everybody rebounds, or doesn’t, back in Detroit on Wednesday night.
Tuesdays With Horry 