CLEVELAND – For the second time in the 2026 NBA playoffs, the Detroit Pistons won a Game 6 on the road to stay alive.Now we’ll see if they can take home another Game 7 on Sunday when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers with a chance to advance to their first Eastern Conference finals since 2008.MVP candidate Cade Cunningham scored 21, Jalen Duren returned to the series with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Paul Reed added 17 points off the bench in Detroit’s 115-94 win over Cleveland in Game 6 of this Eastern Conference semifinal. Daniss Jenkins, starting his second consecutive game in this series, added 15 points for Detroit.The winner of Game 7 Sunday in Detroit (which will either be at 5 p.m. or 8 p.m., depending on what happens in Game 6 of the Spurs-Timberwolves series Friday), will play the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the conference finals on Tuesday.This game was nothing like Detroit’s previous Game 6, when the Pistons overcame a 24-point deficit in the third quarter at Orlando to avoid elimination in the first round. The Pistons held leads at the end of each period on Friday in Cleveland against a Cavs team that had not lost at home in the 2026 playoffs and was 19-3 at Rocket Arena since Jan. 23, the best home record in the NBA since that date.Cleveland, which is still trying to reach its first conference finals without LeBron James since 1992, was led by James Harden’s 23 points. Donovan Mitchell, who is 0-for-8 in getting past the second round in his career, shot 6-of-20 and scored 18 points.The Cavs run the risk of losing in the second round for the third consecutive season, this time with the NBA’s highest payroll ($229 million before tax penalties are counted), and also this time against their former coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, who lost a locker room full of many of the same players still wearing those Cavs jerseys.With 8:04 left in the second quarter, Detroit’s Ausar Thompson shoved Cleveland’s Sam Merrill to the ground and the stepped over him. After a video replay, lead referee Zach Zarba said Thompson’s left arm extended to Merrill’s head and neck area and “there was follow through.” Thompson was assessed a Flagrant Foul 1, which meant he could stay in the game (he would foul out with 3:56 left in the game and the Pistons ahead by 15).