NBA Final Intelligence

125 – 94

FINAL

Cleveland Cavaliers 125, Detroit Pistons 94 — Recap

May 17, 2026 · View Preview

📰Game Summary

Final (playoffs): Cleveland Cavaliers 125, Detroit Pistons 94. Scoring by quarter: Q1 CLE 31-22 DET; Q2 CLE 33-25 DET; Q3 CLE 35-26 DET; Q4 CLE 26-21 DET.

Top performers (box score): Donovan Mitchell (CLE) 26 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 threes on 10-of-22 shooting; Jarrett Allen (CLE) 23 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assists on 8-of-14 shooting; Sam Merrill (CLE) 23 points, 1 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 threes on 7-of-10 shooting; Evan Mobley (CLE) 21 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 threes on 7-of-10 shooting; Daniss Jenkins (DET) 17 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 threes on 4-of-12 shooting.

Standouts

Top Scorer · CLE

Donovan Mitchell

26 PTS, 6 REB, 8 AST, 2 3PM · 10-22 FG

Scoring · CLE

Jarrett Allen

23 PTS, 7 REB, 1 AST · 8-14 FG

Scoring · CLE

Sam Merrill

23 PTS, 1 REB, 2 AST, 5 3PM · 7-10 FG

Every player's line is in the box score below; the play-by-play is available in the BlowOutAlert workspace.

📊 Game Flow

CLE 35 largest lead Q4 8:45 (CLE 110, DET 75) · 11-0 run, Q3 2:57–Q3 0:52

DET 1 largest lead Q1 11:14 (CLE 2, DET 3) · 11-0 run, Q1 8:28–Q1 4:47

Swings 2 lead changes Tied 1 time

Ahead for good: Sam Merrill makes 24-foot three pointer (Jarrett Allen assists) (Q1 3:51, CLE 16, DET 13).

Linescore

	1	2	3	4		T
CLE	31	33	35	26		125
DET	22	25	26	21		94

🧮 How They Scored

CLEDET

58Points in the paint34

12Fast-break points11

18Second-chance points11

22Points off turnovers17

37Bench points47

Four factorsHighlighted side won the factor

57.1%Effective FG%42.4%

9.5%Turnover %12.5%

31.1%Offensive rebound %21.7%

0.518Free-throw rate0.341

Box Score

Cleveland Cavaliers

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Evan Mobley F-C	36	21	12	6	2	2	2	7-10	1-4	6-11	+31
James Harden G	36	9	5	6	0	0	1	2-10	0-6	5-8	+31
Donovan Mitchell G	31	26	6	8	1	1	0	10-22	2-6	4-6	+17
Max Strus G	28	9	3	2	3	0	0	3-7	1-5	2-2	+11
Jarrett Allen C	25	23	7	1	1	1	2	8-14	0-0	7-13	+9
Sam Merrill G	25	23	1	2	1	0	2	7-10	5-8	4-4	+22
Dean Wade F	21	5	6	1	0	0	0	2-2	1-1	0-0	+17
Dennis Schroder G	18	2	3	3	1	0	2	1-1	0-0	0-0	+12
Keon Ellis G	4	3	0	0	0	0	1	1-1	1-1	0-0	+1
Craig Porter G	4	2	2	1	0	0	0	1-2	0-0	0-0	+1
Nae'Qwan Tomlin F	4	2	1	0	1	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0	+1
Jaylon Tyson G-F	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	+1
Thomas Bryant C	4	0	4	1	0	0	1	0-4	0-2	0-0	+1

Detroit Pistons

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Cade Cunningham G-F	37	13	4	5	2	0	3	5-16	0-7	3-3	-32
Daniss Jenkins G	34	17	3	5	0	0	1	4-12	2-7	7-8	-15
Ausar Thompson G-F	29	5	7	0	0	2	1	2-7	1-2	0-2	-14
Jalen Duren C	26	7	9	3	0	2	3	3-7	0-0	1-2	-18
Marcus Sasser G	23	9	2	1	1	0	0	3-12	3-9	0-0	-16
Tobias Harris F	23	5	5	2	1	1	1	0-6	0-2	5-6	-23
Duncan Robinson F	22	13	1	1	1	0	3	4-7	3-5	2-3	-20
Caris LeVert G	16	11	2	2	1	0	1	3-5	2-4	3-4	-14
Paul Reed F	8	4	4	1	0	0	0	2-5	0-0	0-0	-7
Ronald Holland II F	6	3	2	0	0	0	0	1-3	1-2	0-0	+4
Isaiah Stewart F-C	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	1-1	0-0	1-1	-8
Tolu Smith F	5	4	2	0	1	0	1	2-2	0-0	0-0	+4
Chaz Lanier G	5	0	0	1	0	0	0	0-2	0-1	0-0	+4

🔬 Advanced Stats

Cleveland CavaliersTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Donovan Mitchell	Starter	31	26	52.8	34.2	+30.0	18.6
Jarrett Allen	Starter	25	23	58.3	34.4	+19.6	17.4
Evan Mobley	Starter	36	21	70.8	19.5	+41.9	23.3
James Harden	Starter	36	9	33.3	16.5	+40.2	3.3
Max Strus	Starter	28	9	57.1	11.1	+18.6	12.0
Sam Merrill	Bench	25	23	97.8	19.4	+40.7	16.0
Dean Wade	Bench	21	5	125.0	3.8	+39.5	9.6
Keon Ellis	Bench	04	3	150.0	16.7	+3.3	10.5
Dennis Schroder	Bench	18	2	100.0	6.4	+37.1	9.6
Craig Porter	Bench	04	2	50.0	16.7	+3.3	42.1
Nae'Qwan Tomlin	Bench	04	2	100.0	8.3	+3.3	42.1
Thomas Bryant	Bench	04	0	0.0	41.7	+3.3	-21.1
Jaylon Tyson	Bench	04	0	0.0	8.3	+3.3	-10.5
Tyrese Proctor	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Detroit PistonsTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Daniss Jenkins	Starter	34	17	54.8	20.5	-20.3	11.3
Cade Cunningham	Starter	37	13	37.5	22.7	-40.3	4.5
Jalen Duren	Starter	26	7	44.4	18.0	-31.1	6.8
Tobias Harris	Starter	23	5	28.9	20.0	-45.5	2.7
Ausar Thompson	Starter	29	5	31.7	13.0	-27.5	0.6
Duncan Robinson	Bench	22	13	78.1	20.0	-45.7	6.6
Caris LeVert	Bench	16	11	81.4	19.0	-38.9	11.6
Marcus Sasser	Bench	23	9	37.5	20.7	-28.6	0.0
Paul Reed	Bench	08	4	40.0	23.8	-34.9	10.1
Tolu Smith	Bench	05	4	100.0	21.4	+39.1	29.3
Isaiah Stewart	Bench	06	3	104.2	7.1	-61.5	4.9
Ronald Holland II	Bench	06	3	50.0	20.0	+30.8	14.3
Kevin Huerter	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Javonte Green	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Chaz Lanier	Bench	05	0	0.0	14.3	+39.1	-4.9

⚔️ Season Series & What's Next

2025-26 season series CLE 6 – 5 DET

Last 30 meetings · since 2020-21 CLE 21 – 9 DET

Previous meetingsOpen the recap

After this game

Cleveland Cavaliers Next game recap: @ NYK · Tue, May 19

Detroit Pistons Next game recap: vs BOS · Tue, Oct 20

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