Friday night was peak cinema for NBA fans across the country, especially in Detroit as fans experienced “free hoops” after the Cavaliers and Pistons went to overtime in a battle between the two of the top four seeds in the Easter Conference. Detroit held off the Cavaliers in overtime 122-119 after a dominant performance from Jalen Duren who tied his career high for points with 33 on 11-for-19 shooting while adding seven offensive rebounds. Duren is having a career year scoring the rock, averaging 18.5 points per game on 63.4% shooting playing the Robin role to Caden Cunningham who has been nothing short of Batman this season for the Pistons. Cunningham dropped 25 points on 11-for-21 shooting, added 10 rebounds and was three assists short of a triple-double with seven which played a major role in Detroit winning this tight conference game, extending their lead in the Eastern Conference to 5.5 games above the Celtics and 8.5 games ahead of the Cavaliers.
Donovan Mitchell missed his second-straight game for the Cavs last night due to a right groin strain but Cleveland made up for his absence offensively thanks to their big man duo of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley who had 25 points and 23 points on a combined 19-for-27 shooting from the field. Mobley shot 50% from three but was unable to extend the game to a second overtime, missing the game tying three as time expired in what was one of the best games of the regular season. Sam Merrill added 20 points on 6-for-14 shooting but managed to knock down four threes on ten attempts. Cleveland seems to be cooling off a bit without Donovan Mitchell, losing two-straight games, but have still managed only four losses in their last 18 games. Cleveland has been one of the hottest teams in the NBA pre and post All-Star break but without Mitchell in the lineup it will be interesting to see how hot this team can stay. It looks like Mitchell’s injury is not anything serious and with the regular season making its way down the stretch towards the Playoffs I would not be surprised to see the Cavaliers be eager to not rush their star guard back until he is fully healthy.
Detroit continues to show why they lead the Eastern Conference by 5.5 games, their gritty play style led by Cade Cunningham has generated a culture that reflects much of the fabled “Bad Boy Pistons” of 1986-92. Due to the new 65-game rule when it comes to how many games a player must complete in order to be eligible for awards the reality that Cunningham is in the conversation for the MVP award continues to grow as Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic can only miss one more game before his ineligible while the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as also missed time as well and is back playing but on a minutes restriction.
If Detroit continues to play this brand of basketball behind Cunningham and Duren, the Pistons will most likely secure the first seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since the 2005-06 season where they eventually lost to the Miami Heat in the ECF. Although the Pistons have a healthy lead in the conference standings with 24 games remaining, the Boston Celtics seem to be preparing for the return of their star forward Jayson Tatum who has missed the entire season up to this point after he tore his right achilles against the New York Knicks in the 2025 playoffs. If the Celtics can get Tatum back for the playoffs, Boston is a team to be wary of given how deep their roster is along with how well Jaylen Brown has been playing all season. Do not be surprised if you see a Pistons and Celtics ECF with the winner of that series most likely facing the defending Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals.
