Cavaliers turnovers turn Game 6 into a rout as Pistons force Game 7

CLEVELAND — With the Cavaliers' hopes hanging by a thread in the fourth quarter, James Harden attempted to inbound to Dean Wade, who slipped, fell and the ball landed in Tobias Harris' hands for an easy transition dunk. That pretty much summed up Cleveland's Friday night. Turnovers reared their ugly head at the worst times as the Cavs committed 19, led by James Harden's eight, and the Pistons became the first team in the playoffs to beat Cleveland in Rocket Arena 115-94 to even their Eastern Conference semifinal. The series shifts to Detroit for a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday for the right to face the New York Knicks in the conference finals. "We know how important the possession game is," Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. "At the end of the day you want to get more shots than the other team, but if you turn it over and don't rebound well, you (don't) get too many opportunities. When the teams are pretty even and you have that disparity in opportunities, that tends to bite you in the back." Cleveland did its best to overcome giving up 25 points off turnovers. The Cavs had a nice run to end the second quarter, cutting a 10-point deficit to 54-51 with seven straight as they went into the locker room. But ultimately, Detroit was too strong in the third and Cleveland was too sloppy. The Cavs committed five turnovers to the Pistons' two, and Detroit made them pay with a 10-1 run that Cleveland just couldn't overcome. "We got hit in the mouth and we didn't punch back," said Donovan Mitchell, who had 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting. "We have throughout the course of these playoffs, but tonight we didn't do that. Now we have to go do that on Sunday." Harden, who opened the playoffs with a plethora of turnovers, seemed to have turned the corner during the past three games. He dropped 30 points in Game 5, helping the Cavs to a gritty 117-114 overtime win in Detroit. On Friday, he opened the first quarter with seven points to two turnovers, then faded. While Harden led the team with 23 points, eight came in the fourth quarter with the game well out of hand. He shot 6-of-13 form the field, 3-of-8 from 3-point range and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. He had four assists to eight turnovers. Mitchell, Evan Mobley and reserve point guard Dennis Schorder each had three turnovers and combined for eight assists. "We didn't start off the game well, still had the lead, and then just throughout the course of the game we never got to that second level," Harden said. "We had an opportunity, this loss hurts, but there was never a consistent flow on both ends of the ball. Which is a little frustrating, but you can't do anything about it. We've got to start focusing here in our mind on one game on the road." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.