Cavs get 'breath of fresh air' after clearing 2nd-round hump - ESPN

DETROIT — Donovan Mitchell called advancing to the conference finals for the first time in his extensive postseason career a «breath of fresh air» after his Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the top-seed Detroit Pistons, 125-94, in Game 7 on Sunday night.

«Even last year, when we lost to Indiana, we had our goals set on getting to the Finals. We're just one step closer,» Mitchell said. «But, yeah it's been almost a decade of running into the same issue. So for sure, I personally, and as a team, we can breathe a little bit.»

The Cavs had lost in the second round in each of the past two seasons and had not made the conference finals since 2018, LeBron James' final season with the franchise. But Cleveland dominated Game 7 on Sunday night, knocking off the top-seeded Pistons and cementing the deepest playoff run for the core of Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals begins Tuesday against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

«It does mean something,» Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. «This was the next step for us. First day of training camp, I put up the playoff record over the last three years, 11-15.

»I've been saying all year we have a lot to prove. We still have more to prove. That's the next part of it, but we proved something to ourselves, that we could take that another step."

The Cavs controlled the game from the opening tip, beginning with assists from Mitchell in three of the first four baskets of the game. After a poor performance in Game 6, Mitchell started this game aiming to respond to that letdown.

He finished with 26 points and added eight assists and six rebounds in one of his most active efforts of the postseason. Mitchell scored or assisted on 43 points on