Red hot Cleveland Cavaliers take down Detroit Pistons behind unbelievable Donovan Mitchell game

A battle between one of the best teams in basketball and one of the worst teams in basketball was surprisingly closer than expected. However, superstar Donovan Mitchell showed why he deserves to make his 5th All-Star appearance, as he willed the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 128-121 victory over the Detroit Pistons at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Cavaliers have been red hot since the turn of the calendar year from fantastic play by Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen, and now they are getting healthier which is a scary sight for the NBA. After getting Evan Mobley back on Monday night against the Clippers, the Cavs received more good news as All-Star point guard Darius Garland returned from a 19-game absence.

With the full squad back and healthy, the Cavs were led by Donovan Mitchell, as he finished with a whopping 45 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block on 6 made threes. In his first game back, Darius Garland didn’t skip a beat as he went on to score 19 points on 58% shooting. Jarrett Allen finished with a 14-point, 11 rebound double-double, making this his 16th straight double-double.

For the Pistons, recently acquired Danilo Gallinari came off the bench and led the team in scoring with his 20 points. Cade Cunningham returned from a 1-game absence and finished with 19 points and 7 assists. Second year guard had a great night as well, finishing with 14 points on 71% shooting and Bojan Bogdanovic scored 17 points in 30 minutes of play.

This win improves the Cavaliers to 29-16 on the season, placing them 4th in the Eastern Conference. They are currently 0.5 games behind the 3rd seeded New York Knicks and 0.5 games above the 5th seeded Philadelphia 76ers, so this win is huge as they are trying to secure a top 4 seed to host a round 1 playoff matchup. Their next game will be tomorrow night against the Memphis Grizzlies where they will look to continue this hot start to 2024.

Meanwhile, this loss drops the Pistons to 6-41 on the season, which is 15th in the Eastern Conference. This season has been a disaster for the Pistons, as they had aspirations to improve off of last season with star Cade Cunningham returning from season-ending injury. With the trade deadline a week away, it will be interesting to see if a veteran like Bojan Bogdanovic gets shipped to a contender looking for extra scoring. The Pistons next game will be on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers.