Donovan Mitchell is going home after round two of the playoffs again, but this time it's a good thing.

Mitchell's breakthrough moment has finally arrived; into the conference finals for the first time in his career and that series will begin at Madison Square Garden, a bonus for the native New Yorker.

In his ninth season, Mitchell has reached the NBA's final four after Cleveland rolled past the Pistons 125-94 in Detroit on Sunday (Monday AEST) in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference semi-final series. Their reward is a trip to third-seeded Knicks for Game 1 on Tuesday.

"Me and my fiancee joked that we were going home regardless, so we might as well play some basketball while we're at the crib," Mitchell said.

"It's going to be special, for sure."

Mitchell scored 26 points, Jarrett Allen and Sam Merrill each added 23 and Evan Mobley had 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who advanced to the conference finals for the first time since 2018 and the ninth time in team history.

The fourth-seeded Cavs ousted the East's top seeds, for whom Daniss Jenkins scored 17 points, and Cade Cunningham and Duncan Robinson each finished with 13.

"Even last year. when we lost to Indiana, we had our goals set on getting to the (NBA) Finals," added Mitchell.

"We're just one step closer ... As a team, we can breathe a little bit, but the same token, we can only breathe for about 12 hours, and then get right back to it."

Cleveland led 31-22 at quarter-time and 64-47 at the main break.

The Cavaliers led by as much as 35 points, with Detroit only able to get within 17 in the third.

"It started with him, his defence, rebounding, and then when he gets in the paint and starts making other people better ... dish-offs to our big guys, that was the key, I felt like, to the game," Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said.

"He had complete control of the game."

Mitchell, who was brought to Cleveland in September 2022 in a trade with Utah, added seven rebounds and eight assists to his stats sheet.

He has been an All-Star in each of the last seven seasons, was one of eight players to receive at least one vote in this year's MVP balloting and will likely be an All-NBA pick for the third time.

He was part of a No.1 seed in 2021, part of a No.1 seed again last year, and never got out of round two.

Until now.

"I'll follow him into war," said Cavs forward Allen.