Harden Delivers Late as Cavaliers Cut Pistons Lead to 2-1
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- James Harden scored 7 points in the final 90 seconds, hitting a 15-foot step-back jumper, a lane floater, and a 25-foot step-back 3 with 25.9 seconds left, finishing with 19 points and 7 assists.
- Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 35 points but deferred to Harden down the stretch, with the duo outscoring Detroit 10-5 over the final 1:29 to seal the win.
- Cade Cunningham posted a 27-point triple-double for the Pistons and nearly willed Detroit to another comeback win after the Pistons erased a 16-point halftime deficit.
- Harden's first two games were brutal: 32% shooting overall, 1-for-11 from three, 11 turnovers against just 9 made field goals across Games 1 and 2 in Detroit, including a 10-point, 3-of-13 effort in Game 2.
- The Cavaliers acquired Harden at the trade deadline specifically for late-game situations like Saturday's — the 17-year veteran has made the playoffs every year of his career but has never won a championship.
- The clutch numbers flipped Cleveland's season-long trend: Detroit had won 4 clutch games this postseason (most in the NBA) while Cleveland had lost 4 (also most in the league) before Harden's late execution.
Why it matters: Harden's late-game heroics reversed the Cavaliers' worst-in-NBA clutch record (4 prior losses) against a Pistons team that had won four clutch games this postseason, the league's most. The win also validated Cleveland's trade-deadline bet on a 17-year veteran whose first two games of the series had reignited doubts about his playoff pedigree.
