{"id":243621,"date":"2026-05-16T03:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T03:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/top-seed-extend-crazy-nba-playoffs-record-as-cut-throat-win-sets-up-game-seven-decider\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T03:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T03:10:00","slug":"top-seed-extend-crazy-nba-playoffs-record-as-cut-throat-win-sets-up-game-seven-decider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/top-seed-extend-crazy-nba-playoffs-record-as-cut-throat-win-sets-up-game-seven-decider\/","title":{"rendered":"Top seed extend crazy NBA playoffs record as cut-throat win sets up game seven decider"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cade Cunningham scored 21 points as the Detroit Pistons staved off elimination from the NBA playoffs with a 115-94 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their NBA Eastern Conference semi-final series on Friday.<\/p>\n

The top-seeded Pistons — trailing 3-2 in the best-of-seven series before Friday\u2019s must-win game in Cleveland — produced a dazzling early onslaught to build a double-digit lead that proved the difference between the two sides.<\/p>\n

\ufeffWatch NBA with ESPN on Kayo Sports | Stream an average 9 LIVE Regular Season games per week plus the best of the NBA Playoffs.| New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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Cleveland, unbeaten at their Rocket Arena home so far this postseason, will now have to win on the road in Sunday\u2019s decisive game seven in Detroit to advance.<\/p>\n

Cunningham\u2019s 21 points included five three-pointers, while at the defensive end, Detroit centre Jalen Duren delivered a dominant performance that included 11 rebounds, three blocks and a steal.<\/p>\n

Cunningham was one of six Pistons players to finish in double figures, with Paul Reed adding 17 off the bench, and Duren and Daniss Jenkins scoring 15 points apiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just playing our brand of basketball, coming out competing, trying to execute our system to the best of our ability, and we\u2019re together,\u201d Cunningham said afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stick together through everything, so it\u2019s a great win for us.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Cade Cunningham #2 of the Detroit Pistons walks off the court after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-94.<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

James Harden led Cleveland\u2019s scoring with 23 points while Donovan Mitchell was restricted to 18 points.<\/p>\n

The Cavs started Friday\u2019s game brightly, opening up a six-point lead in the first quarter before the Pistons started firing to take a grip on the contest.<\/p>\n

A devastating 22-4 run by Detroit saw the visitors accelerate into a commanding 39-27 lead in the second quarter and although Cleveland closed the gap to 54-51 at halftime, the Pistons regrouped impressively to snuff out the Cavs\u2019 threat with a 30-19 third quarter.<\/p>\n

That left Detroit leading by 14 points heading into the fourth and the result was never in doubt, with the Pistons maintaining a double-digit lead to close out victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cade Cunningham scored 21 points as the Detroit Pistons staved off elimination from the NBA playoffs with a 115-94 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their NBA Eastern Conference semi-final series on Friday. The top-seeded Pistons — trailing 3-2 in the best-of-seven series before Friday\u2019s must-win game in Cleveland — produced a dazzling early onslaught […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":243622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[2228,1800,17648,2159,1943,72878,3118,2837,5998,45876,1788,1425,15621,1969,1805,3125,14145,1533,1809,2181,15058,4878,1580,11116,1792,72879],"class_list":{"0":"post-243621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-agence-france-presse","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-cade-cunningham","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","13":"tag-cutthroat-wins-sets","14":"tag-detroit","15":"tag-detroit-pistons","16":"tag-dominant-performance","17":"tag-double-digit-lead","18":"tag-espn-inc","19":"tag-getty-images-inc","20":"tag-gregory-shamus","21":"tag-james-harden","22":"tag-lebron-james","23":"tag-michigan","24":"tag-must-win-game","25":"tag-north-america","26":"tag-northern-america","27":"tag-ohio","28":"tag-paul-reed","29":"tag-points-heading","30":"tag-semi-final-series","31":"tag-top-seed","32":"tag-united-states-of-america","33":"tag-win-game"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}