James Harden believes the Cleveland Cavaliers' Game 5 win over the Detroit Pistons shows they are "building in the right direction".

A 117-113 overtime victory saw Cleveland pick up their first road win of the postseason (previously 0-5) and take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semi-final.

A 9-0 run at the end of the fourth quarter saw the Cavaliers force overtime at Little Caesars Arena, while they ended the game on a 23-10 stretch.

Although Detroit's Cade Cunningham led with 39 points, 30 from Harden, 21 from Donovan Mitchell and 20 from Max Strus helped Cleveland get over the line.

Harden also contributed eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks, while this was his best scoring play-off game for the Cavaliers.

The 36-year-old has now recorded a 30-point play-off game for six different teams (also Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers); no other NBA player has done so with at least five franchises.

Harden admitted he is still learning how to be a second option on a team, but insisted Cleveland are trending in the right direction.

"This is new for me," Harden said. "I've only been here two-and-a-half months, you know what I mean?

SCENES FROM THE DUB IN DET. #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/juwANtxSxA

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 14, 2026

"So the things that we were going through is all new. Learning how to be a second option and feed and play off Donovan, when to be aggressive when he has it going.

"Last game, second half, he did some things that we haven't seen in a very, very long time. And he's capable of doing that every single game.

"So finding when to be aggressive, wanting to be a playmaker and things like that. And then offensively finding what works for us.

"For me, to be successful, to get guys shots and open looks. I think we're building in the right direction.

"And throughout that process, there's going to be sometimes where we don't look as great, but I think overall we all have the right mindset of wanting to help each other do better."