Starting 5 Daily Newsletter
Starting 5: Cavs-Pistons Game 7 tips on Prime, MVP to be announced before The Cavs travel to face the Pistons in Game 7; The 2025-26 Kia MVP Award will be handed out before the game (7:30 ET, Prime). NBA.com Staff May 17, 2026 3:26 PM
Highlights from the Cavaliers-Pistons Eastern Conference Semifinals series. Waiting all weekend for Game 7 to drop… Tonight at 8 ET on Prime Video, the Cavs & Pistons battle for the last spot in the Eastern Conference Finals. Just before that on Prime? The 2025-26 Kia NBA MVP announcement. Need to catch up before an epic Sunday? We got you.
5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀
May 17, 2026
Game 7 Primer: Everything you need to know for tonight’s series finale between the Cavs and Pistons
How We Got Here: A game-by-game breakdown of one of the most evenly-matched battles of the season
Defensive Star: A difference-maker all series, Ausar Thompson’s D could swing Game 7 for Detroit
Spida’s Quest: Donovan Mitchell and the Cavs’ push for postseason glory in the post-LeBron era
Spurs-Thunder: The NBA’s next great rivalry takes center stage, as the WCF begin Monday
BUT FIRST … ⏰
Game 7 is here… Tonight in Detroit, one last showdown to decide the series — and who plays the Knicks in the ECF:
- Game 7: Cavaliers at Pistons (8 ET, Prime | Tap To Watch)
- Kia MVP Award: NBA Awards season has all built up to this moment, as the winner of the 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award will be revealed during tonight’s pregame coverage on Prime (7:30 ET). The finalists are: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), Nikola Jokić (Nuggets), Victor Wembanyama (Spurs)
- Up Next: The Western Conference Finals are set, with the No. 2 Spurs taking on the No. 1 Thunder, beginning Monday (8:30 ET, NBC/Peacock).
1. CAVS-PISTONS, GAME 7: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Tonight (8 ET, Prime), it’s win or go home for the Cavaliers and Pistons again, each playing in their second consecutive Game 7 of these Playoffs. Already the fourth Game 7 of this 2026 postseason, here’s what should you know about the deciding game of another series — and postseason — packed with twists and turns.
- Strong Supply of 7s: For the first time since 2005 & 2006, the Playoffs have featured at least four Game 7s in back-to-back years
- Approaching A Record: With three series remaining in the Conference Finals and Finals, one more Game 7 would match the most ever (5) for a single NBA season
- Uniquely Qualified: For the first time in 10 years, and only the fourth time ever, two teams meeting in a Game 7 advanced from Game 7s in the previous round
- Home Sweet Home: Detroit has never lost a Game 7 in its home gym, with last round’s denial of the Magic keeping the team a perfect 5-0 (6-5 overall)
- Clutch Cavs: Cleveland moved to 7-2 all-time in Game 7s following its Round 1 win over Toronto at home. On the road, the Cavs are 2-2 in this situation, all-time
- Up & Away: There has been at least one Game 7 road winner in each of the last 11 seasons, continuing with the Sixers’ win in Boston last round
Gregory Shamus/NBAE via Getty Images
These two franchises played a mirror-image 7-game series exactly 20 years ago in the 2006 East Semis. The top-seeded Pistons, with much of the same cast from their 2004 championship squad, won the first two games at home. The No. 4 Cavs, led by LeBron James in his postseason debut, then took three straight. Detroit took Game 6 on the road, before limiting Cleveland to just 61 points to win Game 7. LeBron scored 27 of the 61 in 47 minutes of action, while the classic Pistons’ starting five had 66 of their 79, led by Tayshaun Prince’s 20. The two would meet again in the Eastern Conference Finals the following season, with LeBron’s Cavs advancing. Detroit has only been back once since, with a chance to return tonight.
- At Stake: The Pistons can advance to their first East Finals since 2008, while the Cavs aim to get back for the first time since 2018 marked the end of four straight trips in LeBron’s second stint
- Spida’s Game 7s: A winner of two with Cleveland, Mitchell suits up for his fourth career Game 7. He’s averaged 27.7 ppg in those tilts, with 7.0 reb and 2.0 3PM
- Endgame Greatness: Mitchell averages the 5th-most points per game (30.2) in potential series-clinching games in NBA history (min. 5 games), trailing only Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Giannis, and Luka
- Beard’s Experience: James Harden’s averaged 19.1 ppg and 7.3 ast in eight career Game 7s (4-4) for six teams. Cleveland’s first round clincher snapped his streak of three straight Game 7 losses
- Last Game-7 Sunday: Spida logged 22 pts while Harden added 18 in the Cavs’ first round Game 7 against Toronto. Cade went for a team-high 32 in his first-career Game 7 that same day, adding 12 assists to beat Orlando
- Series’ Signature: The battle to watch continues to be the Pistons’ defense, ranking third in defensive rating (106.6) in these Playoffs, against a Cavs’ offense that ranks top-3 in the East with 109.2 ppg in 13 games
“It’s gonna take every little bit of energy, effort,” Mitchell said of Sunday. “We gotta stay collected, stay together. We’re all we got, we’re on the road.”
“The energy, the opportunity… to do something special and win in front of our home crowd,” Cunningham said of what he’s most looking forward to tonight
Pregame Reads: The Associated Press details how one team’s Game 7 fortunes are about to change… Jalen Duren’s impact was among USA Today’s Game 6 takeaways… The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd places the Cavs’ hopes on Spida’s star shoulders
2. HOW WE GOT HERE: GAME 7 IN DETROIT
They split their regular-season series 2-2. They’re deadlocked at 3-3 in these East Semis. The Cavs and Pistons will battle one last time in 2025-26 tonight to decide a final winner in their season-long showdown. Here’s how they’ve stayed so evenly matched:
- Game 1: Cade Cunningham (23 pts, 7 ast) and Tobias Harris (20 pts, 8 reb) combined for 43 points to take Game 1 and snap an NBA record-tying 12-game losing streak against the Cavs in the postseason (1-0 Detroit)
- Game 2: Cunningham (25 pts, 10 ast) and Harris (21 pts) outdid themselves and Detroit held Cleveland under 100 points for a fifth postseason win in a row, overcoming 31 from Donovan Mitchell (2-0 Detroit)
- Game 3: Spida dropped 35 points and James Harden’s clutch gene ignited to sink the Cavs’ final three field goals, outdueling Cade (27 pts) to win (2-1)
- Game 4: Mitchell erupted for 43 points – 39 coming after halftime to tie the NBA Playoff record for points in a half – as Cleveland moved to 6-0 at home this postseason (2-2)
- Game 5: Harden recorded his 50th career 30+ point Playoff game, and the Cavs rallied back from 9 down in the final 3 minutes for the OT win, their first this postseason (3-2 Cleveland)
- Game 6: Backs against the wall, the Pistons stepped up again for a fourth elimination game win in these Playoffs, forcing Game 7, with Jalen Duren (15 pts, 11 reb) and Paul Reed (17 pts) combining for 32, and 21 from Cade (3-3)
What will the record books remember about the Game 7 finale tonight?
3. THOMPSON’S DEFENSE CAN LOCK DOWN GAME 7 FOR DETROIT
Deee-troit Basketball has long hung its lunch pail on gritty, physical team defense. It’s rare that any one player stands out in the team’s five-on-a-string philosophy – “Big Ben” Wallace, for example. But Ausar Thompson has been turning heads while spearheading this Pistons squad’s stellar D.
“It just is amazing at how disruptive he can be,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff has said of Thompson. “He single-handedly can eliminate guys… create chaos on that end of the floor. He creates confusion with his ability to be in, what seems like, six places at once.”
And outside of his focus on slowing Cleveland’s superstar backcourt, Thompson’s defense has impacted the series in a number of ways, both subtle and loud.
- The Tone-Setter: No one in these Playoffs has more deflections (55) or steals (28) than Thompson, with his combination of length (6’7’’ height | 7’0’’ wingspan) and speed. Here, we see Thompson’s defense lead to offense, an area Detroit leads the postseason in, with 256 points off turnovers. That’s a key battle the Pistons are winning in this series, 139-111 (pts off TOs).
- The Game-Saver: This was how time ran out in Game 5, with Thompson smothering one of the game’s best 4th-quarter scorers in Donovan Mitchell, with a block that saved Detroit – for the time being – and sent the game to OT. For Thompson, it was his second clutch block of the East Semis, the most in this round across the Playoffs, and tied for the most in this postseason so far. The star stopper owns the East’s 4th-best defensive rating (105.1) in these Playoffs among players averaging 20+ minutes per game.
- The Intimidator: A block like this one Thompson skied for in Game 6 can turn a crowd and change a game’s momentum. Thompson’s logged the 4th-most blocks this postseason (23), right on the heels of Cleveland’s bigs Evan Mobley (24) and Jarrett Allen (25). Should Thompson and the Pistons advance, he would become the Playoffs’ 2nd-ranked shot-blocker, behind only Wemby (41).
“He’s one of the best defensive players in this league,” Bickerstaff said after Game 6. “I love his physicality, I love his grit, I love his toughness. There’s just impact everywhere… he just finds a way to spark our defense.”
When Game 7 gets late and Cleveland calls on Mitchell and Harden, look for Thompson to be in the mix, making his presence felt.
4. SPIDA & CAVS OUT TO BREAK NEW GROUND
After two straight years of exits in the East semis, Donovan Mitchell — one of the great all-time scorers in Playoff history — and the Cavs now find themselves a win away from the Conference Finals. Doing so would get Cleveland back to a place it had grown accustomed to during the mid to late 2010s. It would also allow Mitchell, his new running mate James Harden and a deep supporting cast to define a new era for the Cavs, the Athletic’s Jason Lloyd wrote.
5. SERIES PREVIEW: YOUNG SPURS, THUNDER RENEW RIVALRY IN WCF
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
It was a holiday gift for the hoops world. San Antonio’s home win over OKC on Christmas Day marked the end of a stretch of three epic matchups between the two young squads over just 13 days. The Spurs won all three, a mind-bending feat considering the reigning champs had lost just one of the 25 games prior. A cross-state rivalry reached another level, thrilling fans twice more before the regular season’s end.
Get the rivalry reignited ahead of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday (8:30 ET, NBC & Peacock) with this series primer:
- Resumé Worthy: San Antonio finished 4-1 against the Thunder in the regular season. Only two other teams beat OKC more than once, with two wins apiece for the Suns and Wolves
- OKC’s Kryptonite? The Thunder lost only 18 games all season, with the four to the Spurs accounting for 22.2%
- Stephon Castle (19.8 ppg) led the Spurs in scoring in the five games against OKC, with Victor Wembanyama contributing 18.4 ppg, 9.2 rpb and 1.2 blocks
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (29.5 ppg) led the Thunder in scoring by far in his four games against the Spurs. Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins were the only OKC players to play in all five games
- Heavy On Wins: This matchup of No.1 OKC (64 wins) and No. 2 San Antonio (62 wins) is the first postseason meeting of 62+ win teams since the 1998 NBA Finals (Bulls vs. Jazz, 62 wins each)
- And it’s just the third time two 62+ win teams have met in a Conference Finals, after 1981’s Sixers-Celtics ECF (Erving vs. Bird), and 1972’s Bucks-Lakers WCF (Kareem vs. Wilt)
- Light On Years: This will be the youngest Conference Finals in NBA history, based on weighted minutes played in that postseason. Both teams average 25.6 years old
Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images
The Thunder have not had media availability since San Antonio clinched its spot in the West Finals, but Spurs players looked ahead Friday night.
“My mind is excited,” Wemby said. “Just the words ‘Conference Finals’ is crazy. It’s like something I heard my whole life, and now being in it, is just special.”
“We know it’s gonna be tough to knock them off, but we’re pretty confident we could do it,” said Castle
“Of course we’re confident, but we need to keep the right confidence level,” said Wemby
All Eyes On The WCF: There’s plenty to read on this rivalry that’s capturing the attention of the basketball world. Here are some of our favorites:
- The Athletic: Spurs-Thunder is the rivalry of the NBA’s future, and its present
- CBS Sports: NBA experts predict a winner, with the defending champs carrying respect
- ESPN: Thunder’s Jalen Williams says he’s healthy entering WCF
- USA Today: OKC’s Ajay Mitchell and Jalen Williams are the X-Factors of this series
- The Athletic: The “Slash Bros” and the magical wristbands that bond San Antonio’s young backcourt
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