DETROIT — One game changes everything.
Judgment day has been delayed as the Cleveland Cavaliers ran the Detroit Pistons out of their own building in a lopsided 125-95 Game 7 victory.
For the first time since 2018, the Cavs are heading to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Cavaliers went all-in on this core when they traded Darius Garland — who admitted after the season that his toe still wasn’t right — for a decade-older James Harden. It’s too early to say the gamble has completely paid off. We can at least say they’ve reached the minimum for this season not to be labeled a disaster.
This team took a step forward this postseason.
Going into training camp, head coach Kenny Atkinson wrote 11-15 on a whiteboard. That was the Cavs’ postseason record in the previous three seasons.
The current version that won tonight was comprised mostly of the same players as those previous teams, but this group is different.
They faced adversity and responded in a way that we simply haven’t seen before. After falling behind 0-2 against a 60-win team, they strung together three impressive victories that showcased different skills. And then, after a demoralizing Game 6 loss that was all too reminiscent of previous postseason collapses, they responded with a win that showed that this team is, in fact, not the same.
That difference starts with their star player.
“It’s been almost a decade of running into the same issue,” Donovan Mitchell said after Game 7 when asked what it means to get to the conference finals. Some of those issues were self-inflicted. Some weren’t.
Before the game, Kenny Atkinson said that Mitchell being more of a playmaker has been an emphasis this postseason, even though this hasn’t come to fruition yet. He wanted Mitchell to “hit singles” and make the easy pass.
Mitchell did that. He picked up three helpers in the first three minutes of the game by easily reading where the help defense was coming from and then making the pass to the open man.
When he’s doing that, the game opens up for him and everyone else — especially the bigs.
Atkinson had dinner with Dan Gilbert on Saturday night, and he gave Atkinson some advice: “The spark for this is Jarrett Allen.”
This resulted in Atkinson drawing up the first play for Allen, and the rest is history.
Allen finished off a few easy dump-offs in the paint in the opening three minutes, two of which came from Mitchell.
The more you feed Allen, the more force he plays with. We saw that as he continually attacked the basket in the short roll and around the rim. And when he’s playing with that energy level on offense, he carries it over to the defensive end as well.
“His energy, his effort, rebounding, drawing contact wherever he played like that,” Evan Mobley said. “It’s a whole different team for us.”
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Allen played with an edge that we don’t typically associate with him. He repeatedly took it to Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, and Paul Reed, pushing them off their spots. Allen was the aggressor until he finished with 23 points and seven rebounds.
After being the star of two straight Game 7’s, maybe it’s time to bury the notion that Allen can’t come up big in the playoffs.
“This is just who he is,” Mitchell said. “He was phenomenal for us, even before I got here. I’m glad people are starting to see how he really is.”
Once one big is attacking inside with that much force, it makes it easier for the other one to get going.
Mobley has consistently elevated his game this postseason. That continued as he was forceful in his attacks on the basket both as a roller and off-the-dribble. He did this while keeping his eyes up and looking for his teammates, which allowed him to finish with six assists.
The Cavs are an inside-out team. If they’re able to get to the basket, the three-ball opens up.
Sam Merrill was the biggest beneficiary of this as he knocked down four triples in the first half when the game was still up for grabs. That took the life out of a building that was already on oxygen at that point in the game.
“He was unbelievable,” Atkinson said. “We weren’t rolling until he came in the game.”
Merrill ended the night with 23 points on 5-8 shooting from three.
This was an all-around impressive team performance that was made possible by Mitchell’s approach.
He didn’t punch the ticket to his first-ever conference finals by dominating the ball scoring at an impressive clip. Instead, it was because he did all the little things he hadn’t done at a high level in any of his previous postseason runs with the team.
This was the most complete game we’ve seen from Mitchell, considering the moment. He was helpful in every facet of the game.
Mitchell’s willingness to move the ball only made it easier for him to score. He had a playoff-high eight assists. The threat to pass to one of the bigs or kick it out to a shooter in the corner forced Detroit’s defenders to stay home, which opened up driving lanes to the basket, as evidenced by his 26 points on 10-22 shooting.
This was paired with Mitchell being a disruptive defender. He was forceful at the point of attack, and he held up well when switched onto Cade Cunningham or one of Detroit’s forwards. This was in addition to being helpful off-ball as he picked up a steal and a block.
This performance was fitting. Mitchell has been the steadying force all year. He’s the reason why the Cavs were in a position to do anything in the first place.
“He kept this thing together,” Atkinson said. “When things weren’t going great, he was the beacon, the light, his leadership carried us on the court. … And when things weren’t going great, he was the person everyone looked to his positivity. I would have said this even if we lost.”
Mitchell has all the talent in the world, which typically only shows through in his incredible scoring. However, games like this show you that he could be the best guard in the league if he consistently made an effort like this on all aspects of the game.
The New York Knicks will be a formidable matchup, but not an impossible one. If you can get this version of Mitchell, the one that’s locked in defensively and trying to find his teammates for open looks, the Cavs have a good chance of winning the conference.
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