The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons 117-113 in overtime in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals after trailing 103-94 in the final minutes of regulation. Cleveland finished the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to force overtime, then closed out the win in the extra period.
Evan Mobley said the comeback came down to staying with the moment when the game was slipping away. “Just sticking with it. Every single minute, every single second counts at the end of games like this and I think we stuck with it till the very end,” he said.
The margin had shrunk to nothing because Cleveland did not let the possession count stop mattering when the Pistons looked ready to put the game away. Mobley said the group could have eased off, but instead kept making plays. “We could have let it go and relaxed, but everyone just came up with big plays down the stretch and Max had big plays,” he said.
That final stretch turned on more than one player. Mobley said he, James, Don and the rest of the group were locked in together as the game tightened. “I had a few big plays, James, Don, everyone were just all connected at the end of the game and locked in,” he said.
The result matters because Game 5 was the kind of playoff night that can swing a series in a single possession. Cleveland was down nine with minutes left in regulation, then held the Pistons scoreless during the closing push to send the game to overtime and protect its season in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The tension in this one was not about a dominant run or an easy finish. It was about a team that looked beaten, then found enough stops and timely baskets to erase a 103-94 deficit before taking control in overtime. For Cleveland, that kind of comeback does more than add one win. It shows the Cavaliers can survive the kind of late-game pressure that usually ends a postseason run.
Jarrett Allen was part of the night the Cavaliers will remember for the way they finished, not the way they started. The bigger question now is whether Cleveland can carry that same late-game edge into the next step of the series.
