In Game 7, every little bit matters.
It’s an effort from top to bottom across an organization, from the players, coaching staff, ownership and the fans. Overcoming a Game 7 on the road in a hostile environment is quite the tall task. Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert saw the juice the Rocket Arena crowd brought his team in a decisive Game 7 against the Raptors in the first round, so he decided to take matters into his own hands as the Cavs were in another win-or-go-home game two weeks later, this time on the road in Detroit.
Gilbert, a Detroit native and owner of Rocket Mortgage whose massive headquarters reside in the Motor City, bussed Cavs fans from Cleveland to Little Caesars Arena throughout the Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Pistons. He turned it up a notch for Game 7 with 25 busloads of season ticket holders, Rocket Arena workers and fans that were brought to the other side of Lake Erie to help even out the crowd.
If we say a standard bus carries 50 passengers on average, that’s 1,250 Cavs fans who made up Little Caesars Arena’s capacity of just over 20,000, and that’s only those who were there on Gilbert’s dime. That’s still plenty of noise to make up for, but you could feel the considerable presence from the Cleveland faithful on the road as the Cavs endured yet another Game 7.
Dan Gilbert sends 25 buses of everyday loyal Cleveland fans to the Motor City for @NBA Game 7 @cavs to #LetemKnow @cavsdan knows his fans 🏀
— Chris Ronayne (@chrisronayne) May 17, 2026
Let’s Go @cavs! pic.twitter.com/GqDMNAGCuB
Chants of “let’s go Cavs” rang through the arena, which Pistons fans quickly drowned out with loud boos. But the Cavs quickly took control of the game and stomped the Pistons 125–94 in what was an emphatic statement to clinch a meeting with the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in the NBA,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said after the win, “where a visiting team brings that many people and they’re present. We heard them. Now we were making shots and obviously the Detroit fans weren’t jumping but our people were loud.
“I just can’t believe how good the seats were. Usually when you bring buses they put you in the [corner], we had good seats. That was so cool behind the bench, I think the players and the coaches appreciated it so much.”
Gilbert and the fans he brought were rewarded with an epic performance by their team as star guard Donovan Mitchell dropped 26 points while big man Jarrett Allen dominated down low with 23 points and Sam Merrill added 23 of his own as he knocked down five three-pointers off the bench. As Pistons fans cleared out, the road crowd stayed in the building to soak in the 31-point victory and Cavs players stayed on the floor to salute them for making the trip.
WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU, CLEVELAND FANS. #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/ruEpqP1WH8
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 18, 2026
👏 Clap it up for the Cavs fans supporting on the road! #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/g80H8A3PEL
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 18, 2026
#Cavs fans in full force to celebrate the Game 7 victory in Detroit. pic.twitter.com/rpQzzx5hM0
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) May 18, 2026
Gilbert proved that being an owner is a hands-on job and he’ll reap the benefits of the extreme gesture for years to come—both from the fan base to the players on the court.
Dan Gilbert proved the value of generosity as an NBA owner
The most obvious beneficiary of Gilbert’s stunning plan was the lucky fans who went along for the ride. But it has ripple effects through the whole organization and how he goes about running his team has impacted winning in a big way.
Atkinson revealed after the win that he had dinner with Gilbert at the team hotel the night before Game 7 and the owner had a prophetic tip for his head coach.
“He goes, ‘You know who the key to this whole thing is?’” Atkinson said of his pregame conversation with Gilbert. “I was thinking [James] Harden or Mitchell. He goes, ‘the key to this whole thing, the spark is Jarrett Allen.’ I said ‘really?’ And that sparked me to run the first play for him. ... In our film session, we talked about how we need to reward the bigs and sometimes you have to be reminded. And that was great by Dan, he hit it on the head.”
Allen said that Gilbert sent a message to him before the game that said how important and how much of an impact he believes he can have on the game.
“It’s motivating,” the Cavs center said after his big night, “especially when somebody like that, with that stature, has that confidence in me. It gives me that extra push.”
Beyond Allen, Merrill was the other spark who helped seal Game 7 beside Mitchell’s stardom. Merrill, the last pick of the 2020 NBA draft, re-signed with Cleveland over the offseason on a four-year, $38 million deal. After he dropped 23 points off the bench Sunday, he gushed about Gilbert’s treatment of the players and their families, from top-tier facilities to accommodations and everything in between. Merrill has had stops with four organizations over his six-year career and he says the Cavs stand out above the rest, so much so that it brought him back on an affordable contract that made both sides happy.
As we saw on Sunday, the fan base feels Gilbert’s dedication firsthand too. A gentleman wearing a custom Cavs lucha libre mask with a custom championship belt led chants for the road fans throughout Game 7. He’s affectionately known as Señor Cleveland and has held Cavs season tickets since 2015. That made him a shoo-in for Sunday’s brigade from northeast Ohio and he says there were actually 26 buses needed since the municipal lot where fans met was so packed.
What followed was a feel-good ride around Lake Erie with plenty of high fives, cheers and chants that made the two and a half hour ride go by in a flash. Before the game, he had dinner at one of Gilbert’s many buildings in Detroit with fellow fans where the whole tab was—you guessed it—covered by the owner.
He didn’t expect to get home until 3 a.m., which was all worth it. After the win, the party spilled from the arena to the lot where the buses for more chants, hugs and high fives and a some pictures with the world’s largest luchador (as proclaimed by Cleveland fans).
“That’s why I love sports,” he told Sports Illustrated from one of Gilbert’s buses over text. “There’s nothing in the world that can bring complete strangers together as one to cheer for a common cause. It’s one of the few things that unite people still.”
He’s held season tickets for other organizations and he says, understandably so, that this was far and away the best thing an owner has ever done in his experience.
“We we’re going to stay season ticket holders anyway,” he told SI during the game. “This just sealed the deal. You don’t find too many owners who would pony up that much.”
It wasn’t just season ticket owners as Rocket Arena workers Christian Fernandez and Danny Florence got the invite as part of what they estimate was an 800 to 1,000 person crew of Cavs supporters for the journey. New York is a much longer trip and Madison Square Garden is the toughest ticket across the NBA, so similar road takeovers are unlikely for the Eastern Conference finals matchup against the Knicks. But don’t put anything past Gilbert as he saw how far his grand gestures could go and how real an impact it had on winning. In light of the ridiculous cost-cutting measures from new Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon that have been documented in recent weeks, it is a breath of fresh air.
“We’ve had this team for 22 years and so far this is my second favorite day,” Gilbert said in the Cavs locker room postgame as his team celebrated the big win. That’s a big statement next to the franchise’s first NBA title in 2016. The little stuff goes a long way as Gilbert created a lifelong memory for fans, his team and himself with one of the most audacious moves you’ll ever see from an owner.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert Helped Tip the Scales in Game 7 Road Win Over Pistons.
