The Pistons forced Game 7 with a 114–94 win over the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Friday night. Detroit came out strong and never let up, earning the right to play another game with a total team effort in which six different Pistons finishing with 10 or more points. On the other side, James Harden led the Cavs with 23 points but couldn’t keep them in the game—and he effectively killed their last hope for a comeback.
Cleveland trailed by double-digits for most of the evening but pulled within striking distance midway through the fourth quarter, trailing by only 13 with about seven minutes remaining. Momentum seemed to be shifting the Cavaliers’ way; Ausar Thompson had just gotten called for his fifth foul and Cade Cunningham was getting visibly fed up with the officiating at large. Then they got four offensive rebounds on one possession before another foul got called on Cunningham, who looked about ready to explode and so he headed to the bench.
There were six and a half minutes left, the Pistons’ best players were on the bench and the Cavs had the ball with a chance to go up 10 after a demoralizing failure by Detroit to secure a defensive rebound. The world had just watched this Cleveland roster erase a nine-point deficit in the last three minutes of Game 5 and the signs were pointing to a repeat performance.
But it was not to be, and we found that out immediately. On the ensuring inbounds pass, Cavs forward Dean Wade slipped and fell right as Harden tossed it towards him. Tobias Harris quickly grabbed the loose ball and coasted down the court for a dunk to put the Pistons up 15. Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson called a timeout and the momentum vanished, just like that.
And it all stemmed from a typically egregious flop attempt from Harden.
For all of his well-earned accolades on the court it is undeniable that the star guard will be justifably remembered as one of the most obvious foul-hunters from this era of the NBA, a habit that’s only gotten worse as he’s gotten older. At least a handful of times in every game, regular season or postseason, he will flail if a defender even gets near him in hopes of fooling the referees into a foul call. It’s a productive strategy, which is why Harden keeps doing it, but its effectiveness nosedives in the playoffs where the whistle tightens up.
Nevertheless, he still tries to get those calls. During the above stretch where the Cavs pulled down four offensive rebounds while trying to inch closer to the Pistons, Harden went up for a three-point shot and sensed Cunningham was running to contest him from the side. So the Cleveland star kicked his legs out and flung his body backwards in hopes of drawing a foul, sliding up the floor towards midcourt.
The call, of course, did not come because Cunningham didn’t make contact with him at all. But Harden fell to the court anyway—and whatever sweat he left there caused Wade to slip.
Dean Wade slipped on James Harden’s sweat 😭🥀 pic.twitter.com/rSeZW3MHaT
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 16, 2026
Normally it’s tough to draw a thorough line between two players falling down but Wade slips in the exact spot Harden fell.
It wasn’t the only reason the Cavaliers lost, obviously. Far from it. But this was the moment where the tide would have turned. A make on that possession gives the crowd and the team life. Heck, even a missed shot wouldn’t have been a death blow. Anything but an automatic bucket for the Pistons would have been an acceptable outcome.
Instead Cleveland saw the worst-case scenario unfold and it took the winds out of everybody’s sails to a startling degree. The game was effectively over at that point. The outcome might’ve been the same if Harden didn’t flop on that three-point try, but in retrospect that was the final nail in the coffin.
Live by the flop, die by the flop. A lesson many Harden-led teams have learned in previous playoff runs is what the Cavaliers are finding out right now.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as James Harden’s Obvious Flop Late in Game 6 Wasn’t Just Egregious—It Killed the Cavaliers’ Comeback Hopes .
