CLEVELAND, Ohio — What past playoff failures? The fourth-seeded Cavs won Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, 116-109, on Saturday afternoon inside Rocket Arena.

The Detroit Pistons' comeback fell short in Game 3 as James Harden and Donovan Mitchell led the Cleveland Cavaliers in a must win game.

James Harden endured plenty of criticism after the first two games of Cleveland’s Eastern Conference semifinal series against Detroit. With the Cavaliers in danger of falling into a 3-0 hole that no NBA team has ever overcome,

James Harden hit three clutch shots in the final two minutes, Donovan Mitchell scored 35 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Detroit 116-109 on Saturday to cut the Pistons’ lead to 2-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

CLEVELAND— James Harden hit three clutch shots in the final two minutes, Donovan Mitchell scored 35 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat Detroit 116-109 on Saturday to cut the Pistons’ lead to 2-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

James Harden bounced back from two mistake-marred performances to finish with 19 points to lead the Cavaliers past the Pistons.

Can the version of James Harden the Cavs saw in Game 3 be frozen in time? If so, the Pistons should worry about the Eastern Conference semifinals.

James Harden had more turnovers than field goals in the first two games. Then he went off in crunch time of Game 3.