Detroit Pistons look to close out Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of NBA play-offs

MICHIGAN – Donovan Mitchell and Ausar Thompson will battle for the last word in their individual rivalry when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of their NBA Eastern Conference semi-final on May 17 (May 18 morning, Singapore time).

Each team have prevailed once on their opponents’ home court since each won twice at home to begin the best-of-seven series.

Mitchell and the Cavaliers’ 117-113 overtime triumph on May 13 in Detroit gave them a 3-2 lead and put the fourth-seeded team one win away from meeting the New York Knicks in the East Finals.

But the top-seeded Pistons levelled the tie two days later in Cleveland, rolling to a 115-94 victory that has returned the presumed home-court advantage to Detroit.

“It’s going to be a madhouse in there,” Pistons star Cade Cunningham predicted on the eve of the decisive showdown. “The crowd is going to come to play as well. They want to insert themselves in the game.”

Detroit went 31-9 at home in the regular season – the third-best record in the NBA – before going 3-1 at their Little Caesars Arena against the Orlando Magic in the first round of the play-offs. That included a 116-94 home win in Game 7 on May 3.

Cleveland also needed seven games to reach the semi-finals. The Cavaliers have not lost a Game 7 since LeBron James was 23 years old in 2008 against the Boston Celtics. Before beating the Magic, the Pistons had not been in a seven-game series since, coincidentally, eliminating Cleveland in 2006.

Mitchell, the NBA’s seventh-leading scorer at 27.9 points per game during the regular season, has been held to 23 points or fewer in three of the six games of the semi-final series.

In Cleveland’s Game 5 win, the 29-year-old scored 21 points, shooting 7 for 18 overall and 1 for 8 on three-pointers. When the Cavaliers were limited to 94 points in Game 6, he was held to 18 points while being harassed into 6-for-20 shooting from the field and 2 for 6 from deep.

Thompson, who was a finalist for NBA Defensive Player of the Year, has received much of the credit for Mitchell’s troubles. The Cavaliers recognise the defensive strategy and believe they are prepared to counter it when it matters most.

“Getting him in the open court more where they can’t get their hands on him,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said when asked for a potential solution to the 23-year-old’s aggressive defence.

“When it’s in the half-court, it’s clutch, grab, hold. We got to get him in space, in the open court – kick-aheads, kick-acrosses, all that.”

Another key matchup in the series has been between the starting centres – Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen and Jalen Duren of Detriot.

Allen has won the statistical battle three times, with a total of 43 points and 19 rebounds to Duren’s 28 points and 11 rebounds in those games, and the Cavaliers have won all three of them. But when Duren has outplayed his rival, outrebounding him 33-18, the Pistons have gone 3-0.

The team who have won the rebounding battle have taken four of the six games. With Duren contributing his second double-double of the series, the Pistons owned a 43-40 edge on the boards in Game 6. REUTERS