{"id":433794,"date":"2026-05-09T19:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/433794\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T19:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:24:10","slug":"pistons-cavs-thunder-lakers-in-pivotal-game-3s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/433794\/","title":{"rendered":"Pistons-Cavs, Thunder-Lakers in pivotal Game 3s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2197336\" class=\"wp-image-2197336 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DET_CLE_1920x1080-784x441.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"784\" height=\"441\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2197336\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cleveland hosts Detroit for Game 3 in hopes of avoiding a 0-3 series deficit on Peacock and NBC.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy the best of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/playoffs\/2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 NBA Playoffs<\/a>, presented by Google, with the NBA.com live blog, featuring all of the meaningful moments, performances, observations, news and highlights from Saturday\u2019s action.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve got two monumental Game 3s on the docket today! Cleveland will host Detroit to kick things off (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/det-vs-cle-0042500203\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Live, Peacock\/NBC<\/a>), followed by Los Angeles welcoming Oklahoma City to town for the nightcap (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/okc-vs-lal-0042500223\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">8:30 p.m. ET, ABC<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>What we know about Saturday\u2019s games:<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland will host Detroit in search of answers to get back in the series and avoid going down 3-0. The Pistons\u2019 defense <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ranks second<\/a> in the 2026 NBA Playoffs with a defensive rating of 103.0, but the Cavs remain undefeated at Rocket Arena in the postseason and look to improve to 5-0 on their home court.<br \/>\nThe Lakers host the defending champion\u00a0Thunder as their conference semifinals series shifts to Los Angeles. Following consecutive 18-point losses, LA is now 0-6 on the season against OKC, with an average margin of defeat of 25.5 points. The Lakers are averaging 19.5 turnovers through the first two games, resulting in 23.0 points off TOs for the Thunder.<\/p>\n<p>MAY 9, 2026 \/ 2:55 ET<\/p>\n<p>Thunder eyeing history tonight<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma City aims to make it 7-0 to start their journey for back-to-back titles with a Game 3 victory against the Lakers in LA.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">With a win tonight, OKC would become the SIXTH reigning champs in NBA history to start the playoffs 7-0 or better!  <\/p>\n<p>Joining\u2026  <\/p>\n<p>&#8217;16-17 Cavs (10-0) <br \/>&#8217;00-01 Lakers (11-0) <br \/>&#8217;92-93 Bulls (7-0) <br \/>&#8217;88-89 Lakers (11-0)<br \/>&#8217;49-50 Lakers (7-0)  <\/p>\n<p>OKC\/LAL Game 3: 8:30 PM ET, ABC NBA\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/67gc1kpZvu\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/67gc1kpZvu<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mZHHDXGivA\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/mZHHDXGivA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA History (@NBAHistory) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBAHistory\/status\/2053179443527749716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>MAY 9, 2026 \/ 2:50 ET<\/p>\n<p>Detroit Pistons:<\/p>\n<p>PG \u2013 Cade Cunningham (24.0 ppg, 8.5 apg, 1.5 spg, 1.0 bpg)<br \/>\nSG \u2013 Duncan Robinson (18.0 ppg, 5.0 3PM on 58.8 3P%, 2.5 spg)<br \/>\nSF \u2013 Ausar Thompson (10.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.5 spg)<br \/>\nPF \u2013 Tobias Harris (20.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.0 spg, 1.0 bpg)<br \/>\nC \u2013 Jalen Duren (9.5 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 1.0 bpg)<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Huerter (adductor) remains out for Detroit, meaning JB Bickerstaff will rely on Daniss Jenkins, Isaiah Stewart and Caris LeVert in the second unit.<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland Cavaliers:<\/p>\n<p>PG \u2013 James Harden (16.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.0 spg)<br \/>\nSG \u2013 Donovan Mitchell (27.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.5 spg)<br \/>\nSF \u2013 Dean Wade (6.5 ppg, 1.5 3PM, 4.0 rpg)<br \/>\nPF \u2013 Evan Mobley (11.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.5 spg, 2.5 bpg)<br \/>\nC \u2013 Jarrett Allen (12.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.0 bpg)<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland gets a boost to their 3-point shooting (30% this series) with Sam Merrill (hamstring) available off the bench after leaving early in Game 1 and missing all of Game 2. Max Strus, Jaylon Tyson and Dennis Schr\u00f6der should continue to get opportunities in the second unit for the Cavs.<\/p>\n<p>MAY 9, 2026 \/ 2:30 ET<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s injury report<\/p>\n<p>DET @ CLE \u2014 Kevin Huerter (adductor) is out for the Pistons.<\/p>\n<p>Sam Merrill (hamstring) is available to play for the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n<p>OKC @ LAL \u2014 Jalen Williams (hamstring) remains out for the Thunder.<\/p>\n<p>Luka Don\u010di\u0107 (hamstring) will miss his ninth consecutive playoff game, and Jarred Vanderbilt (finger) is questionable for the Lakers after missing Game 2.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland hosts Detroit for Game 3 in hopes of avoiding a 0-3 series deficit on Peacock and NBC.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[189687,10046,202845,85,46,102929,4616,3167,203417,105,203418],"class_list":["post-433794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2026-nba-playoffs","tag-abc","tag-conference-semifinals","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-nba-live-blog","tag-nbc","tag-peacock","tag-pistons-cavaliers","tag-sports","tag-thunder-lakers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}