NBA Matchups: May 13

Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons

Team Totals: Cavs 104.3, Pistons 108.3

Injury Report: Duncan Robinson (Q, back), Caris LeVert (Q, heel), Kevin Huerter (Q, groin)

Cavs projected starters: James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

Pistons projected starters: Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren

Offensive Ranks: Cavs 8th (6th halfcourt), Pistons 10th (16th halfcourt)

Defensive Ranks: Cavs 15th (15th halfcourt), Pistons 2nd (2nd halfcourt)

Atkinson quotes: Joked that his halftime speech changed the game, said they really had to play with more pace in the second half, said Mitchell being in the open court was key, said the Pistons don’t let you move in the halfcourt, said Wade “took his defense to another level” on Cade, said Harden came out aggressive and Mobley was “blocking everything,” said Mobley “was the Defensive Player of the Year right there in Game 4,” said the crowd in Game 4 was one of the best crowds he’s ever seen, said they have confidence now to get a win in Detroit, said more pace should lead to more paint scoring, said Mitchell wasn’t in rhythm early and it was incredible to see him turn it around like that, said they have figured out some spacing things later in the series.

Bicketstaff quotes: Said Reed earned the the opportunity to get more minutes, said the whistle changed in Cleveland and it’s frustrating to lose the FTA battle so much, said they were ball-watching too much and they were over-helping, said they just didn’t do a good job on Mitchell in the second half, said LeVert “gave us what we needed” and he’s a “true competitor,” said it’s tough for them to play their style of basketball when they aren’t getting calls, said the Cavs played with more urgency and they need some of that in Game 5, said they have to give Duren confidence and he “didn’t want to give up on guys when they’re having a hard time,” said Duren can “dominate a game and he has to focus on that.”

Stats and notes:

*Donovan Mitchell led a Cavalanche for the most second-half points in a playoff game since Sleepy Floyd in 1987 (39). The other big player story is what a disaster Jalen Duren has been, and we’ll get to that in a bit. On the macro stuff, the biggest story was the Pistons getting just 12 FTAs despite 60 two-point attempts and 33 shots at the rim (made just 21). Donovan Mitchell alone got 15 FTAs on 14 2PAs, and the Cavs as a team had 34 attempts. It’s pretty insane. The Pistons also had a terrible shot profile with just 23 3PAs, and the Cavs got to 41 3PAs. Detroit also turned it over 20 times, and that just can’t happen with the Pistons having such a great halfcourt defense. The Cavs are not getting any transition unless it’s turnovers, and Cleveland was not that great in the halfcourt in Game 4, either. The Cavs also had their best ORB% of this series, and it’s almost a shock that the game was so close with so much working against the Pistons. 

*Donovan Mitchell went berserk in the second half to even this series up. The Cavs picked up the pace in the second half and got him off the ball. Plus, Ausar Thompson was awful in Game 4 and couldn’t stay in front of Donovan early. It was an aggressive game overall from Mitchell with 20 drives after just 12.4 per game in the first three games. Maybe Mitchell can get hot again, but I still don’t love this matchup for him.