Cavs-Pistons Round 2 Game 1 tips tonight in Cleveland

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semis tips at 7 PM ET tonight at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Cavs are the No. 1 seed in the East. Pistons advanced out of Round 1 — their first conference semis appearance since 2008.

The matchup everyone's circled: Donovan Mitchell vs. Cade Cunningham. Mitchell has carried Cleveland in the postseason for years. Cunningham is the one who finally turned Detroit into a real team — back-to-back All-NBA candidate, not just a young guy putting up empty numbers.

Cleveland swept the regular-season series, but playoff series rarely look like regular-season series — especially with a team like Detroit that finally has the maturity to slow a game down. Game 2 is Thursday at 7 ET, also in Cleveland. Then it shifts to Detroit Saturday for Game 3.