CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers are back on an even footing in their second-round series after a huge second half from Donovan Mitchell in Game 4.

Mitchell tied an NBA playoff mark with 39 points in the final two quarters, as he rallied the Cavaliers to a 112-103 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Monday night.

"What a shift, right? Really struggled in the first half, and then a big-time second-half performance by Don," Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.

"It's pretty impressive. I'm not sure I've seen in the playoffs a turnaround like that, where a guy is struggling and just absolutely turns the switch and is the complete opposite of the first half."

The home team has won all four games in the series, which shifts to Detroit for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Mitchell matched the mark of Eric "Sleepy" Floyd on a free throw with 27.6 seconds remaining. He had a chance to break the record, set in 1987 when the Golden State Warriors faced the Los Angeles Lakers, but missed his second foul shot.

"Everybody let me know that I missed a free throw to break the record, though," said Mitchell, who finished with 43 points. "I will say that, but we're two and two headed to Detroit.

"That was what we came home to do, and that is all that matters."

James Harden had his 40th playoff double-double with 24 points and 11 assists. Evan Mobley had 17 points as Cleveland remained unbeaten at home in six playoff games.

"I airballed the first layup and was missing shots short," Mitchell said."Sometimes it's natural, right? I wasn't really trying to get in there and force it, and, then, just doubling down on the defensive end, trying to take whoever I'm guarding, take them out of the equation. I'm not tripping, we were down four at the half.

"I always tell y'all it's not just about the scoring, it's about your overall impact on the game. And for me, it was just like, 'OK, now I have an opportunity to try to get downhill' and then started going in."

Caris LeVert had a season-high 24 points for Detroit. Cade Cunningham scored 19, the first time he has been held under 20 in 11 playoff games this season, and Tobias Harris added 16.

Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff, who takes pride in the physical style his team plays, was not pleased with the free throw disparity. Mitchell had more trips to the foul line (15) than the whole Detroit roster (12).

"There is no way one guy on their team should have more free throws than our team. We're not a settling for jump shots team," he said. "We didn't do enough to help ourselves, but ever since we came to Cleveland, the whistle has changed."

Even though Mitchell struggled in the first half and the Cavaliers shot 15 of 38, with most of their shots being 3-pointers, the Cavaliers felt pretty fortunate to only be down by four at halftime.

Atkinson's message at halftime was to play with more pace and attack downhill, which opened things up.

Mitchell scored 15 during Cleveland's 24-0 run that went from the last 12 seconds of the first half to the first six minutes of the third quarter. Cleveland trailed 56-52 at halftime before taking control.

The Cavs were 10 of 12 from the field and made three 3-pointers. They also converted five turnovers by the Pistons into nine points.

"When (Mitchell) sees a gap, he's going to go. We've got to eliminate his touches and catches on the run," Cunningham said.

"That run, we just never caught our footing again. That was the first time they really got loose in the series."

The 24-0 run was the longest in an NBA playoff game since Minnesota also scored 24 straight in Game 6 of its Western Conference semifinal series against Denver in 2024. It was also the longest spurt by Cleveland in a postseason game since play-byplay stats started being kept in 1997-98. The previous high was 19 in an Eastern semifinal series game against Boston.

"We understood that if we could just get some stops, get out in transition and get some easier looks, we'll be in good shape. We were doing a solid job, we just weren't scoring," Mitchell said.

"I think understanding that we were in a good spot, we did a good job of weathering a storm."

Mitchell and Harden accounted for 49 points apiece with their points scored and points off assists. Mobley was a force on both ends of the court, with eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and five blocked shots.

"Don's going to get all the flowers, but we should give a lot of flowers to Mobley for tonight's performance," Atkinson said.

"Donovan Mitchell was killing us, and that's pretty much it," Pistons center Paul Reed said.

It was Mitchell's eighth playoff game with at least 40 points, his fourth with the Cavaliers. He has at least 30 points in three straight games.

Cleveland is still looking for its first road playoff win this season, and will need at least one if it hopes to make the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2018.