Donovan Mitchell was in a state of disbelief after the Cavaliers’ second-round flameout.
“I love playing in that (bleeping) arena,” Mitchell said after the team’s Game 5 elimination by the Pacers on Tuesday, per ESPN’s Jamal Collier. “That energy, that crowd. We were 0-3 at home, let the city down. This place is special. This place is really special and we didn’t get it done.”
Mitchell said the early exit will provide extra motivation heading into the offseason.
“We’ve had a lot of positives,” Mitchell said. “But we didn’t capitalize. Now we’ve got to use this motivation. Everybody’s going to write us off.”
The Cavs became the fourth team in NBA history to win at least 64 regular season contests and check out in the first or second round.
“I do feel like we got better,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “From the team aspect and then we had a lot of individuals make a step, so I just want to make that clear. But the truth of the matter is we didn’t get to the level we wanted to get to. So, I’m not pleased with that. And we’re not celebrating the season, if that all makes sense. But I do think we made strides. I think we took a jump. Now we got to figure out this last piece, how to get over this hump. And I was quite honestly expecting more, especially coming off the [first-round] Miami series.”
We have more on the Cavaliers:
- Their lack of toughness was evident in the postseason, Jason Lloyd of The Athletic opines. They were pushed around physically, and overmatched and overwhelmed by what was supposed to be an inferior opponent. Jarrett Allen, in particular, has failed to provide a nasty streak in the interior during recent postseasons.
- They are deep into the luxury tax and over both aprons heading into next season, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes. Re-signing second unit star Ty Jerome is a priority — they hold his Early Bird rights. However, Jerome’s salary would cost exponentially more due to luxury tax penalties. Adding a reserve big capable of playing rotational minutes and turning Jaylon Tyson into a rotational player are some other priorities.
- Trading Darius Garland, who has three years left on his deal and is eligible for a two-year extension this offseason, might be the Cavaliers’ best option in a summer filled with hard choices, John Hollinger of The Athletic writes. That could potentially reinvent the team, ease some of their financial burden and keep the Mitchell-Evan Mobley core in title contention.
- Atkinson won the 2024-25 Rudy Tomjanovich Award, which honors an NBA coach for his cooperation with the media and fans, as well as his excellence on the court, the Professional Basketball Writers Association announced in a press release. “Kenny has always brought great candor, humility and a sense of humor to the job, and to his regular sessions with the media,” PBWA president Howard Beck said. “He’s always eager to explain the nuances of the game and to discuss the bigger issues across the league.”
Great year for the Cavs anyhow…
Everybody runnin their mouth how great cavs are
64 wins! #1 seed! Indy cant win. They wont win. Not now not ever, not for a million years. Hali is overrated. Cavs will cruise, no contest.
I was way off tho. I said pacers in 7, only took em 5
In fairness, it should be 3-2 right now going into a game 6…. and no, I’m not going to let that go. That FT lane violation at the end of game 2 changed the outcome of that game. Not saying the Pacers don’t eventually take the series… but you have to play it out. The Cavs were definitely taken out of their game and took the Pacers way too lightly early in the series.
in fairness this series was never even close not for 1 second
pacers dominated from start to finish, historic Ws for indy + legendary performances by tyrese “overrated” haliburton
when is nba gonna do something about the corrupt incompetent refs?? how much more can we possibly take at this point? cavs went to the line 77 times in games 4 + 5, indy only 42 times. mitchell had more FT attempts by himself in game 5 than the entire pacers team. absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable. this s*** happened vs knicks last yr and it happened again this yr. they still ball out, everyone contributes, its not centered on any 1 player, the most underrated coach in nba today maybe in history carlisle, just amazing gutsy bball time after time after time. i am not surprised 1 bit bc i actually watch indy and watch nba. 99% of people watch knicks lakers warriors giannis donovan and then are shocked when a tm like indy beats cavs? this is the best pacers team in franchise history, better than reggie’s pacers, better than PG’s pacers. they can legit go all the way. nobody ever gave them a chance. its beautiful to watch.
Agree. It was never close. Cavs don’t have the toughness to be an elite team. To claim they lost game 2 because of 1 bad call is ridiculous. Basketball more than any other sport is not decided by one call. It should never have even gotten that close to begin with. Anyone who watched the Cavs this year knew they weren’t going to get far. The team is highly overrated
in fairness, there were nowhere near enough fouls called against the Pacers… Nesmith fouls on practically every possession. Mathurin also. But to some extent you do have to wear down the opponent in a 7 game series and the Pacers are playing with that sort of energy right now. I think the Knicks are showing the same sort of energy so it should be a good ECF.
I can’t stand seeing constant whistles in a game and the refs do let more go in the playoffs in order to make the games more watchable… but don’t expect the Knicks to be bullied. And spare me the disparity in FTs nonsense.
Only a crybaby complains about refs……
Especially when you win. Thats just brilliant.
Mitchell goes to FT line cause he goes to the basket. Pacers
“ In the 2025 NBA playoff series between the Cavaliers and Pacers, the Pacers attempted 24 shots from inside 5 feet. They won the series 4-1, reaching the Eastern Conference finals. “
Best Pacers team ever …. I needed a laugh
This is Marty in Indiana……. Knicks lost their whole team to injuries before Pacer series last year.. You never heard us complain. Best Pacers team ever to never win. Go polish your ABA chips. That’s all you are seeing this year. And for a long time after that. Pacers are one of TEN teams to never win an NBA title. Cavs, Celtics, Knicks, all are better now. Only reason you are here is injuries. And you think crying about the refs makes you legit. I can’t wait to play Pacers ….
Its good to dream ….. its obvious you haven’t learned to win yet .
Pacers no injuries but Cavs had a bunch of injuries. Playoffs is all about being healthy. 3 of the series that will be over was because of injuries and the healthy team wins them all. The only series going longest will be the series with 2 healthy teams.
Massive choke from Mitchell missing all 3 free throws at the end. Nothing but heroball from the guards, only 10 ast on 35 fgm with Mithchell and Garland bricking 12-41 combined.
And leaving Hali open is just dumb basketball.
Spot on. Mitchell seems preoccupied with stuff other than winning at all costs. He’s basically a slightly better Zach Lavine.
When Garland and Mitchell kept fake limping after bad turnovers, then to be fine the next possession when they touched the ball, those were the final shovels of dirt thrown on the coffin. Lack of toughness and desire on full display.
Backcourt of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell will never be good enough to win a title. It’s time to break those two apart and try something new. Good season, but Pacers were a bad matchup all season long for them. 0-5 versus them at home and 36-5 against everyone else.
@raz
I agree, such a small backcourt is a liability, and Garland is overrated due to his poor defense..
One thing I noticed is that the Pacers play at such a ferocious/frantic pace that Cleveland’s guys were worn down on both ends of the floor late in games. Indiana kept going at them HARD and by the time the game was on the line, they all were worn out due to the high pace style Indiana plays. Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are great defenders but they do not have the conditioning to keep up with this type of an offense that goes up and down for 48 minutes. Pacers exposed that all series long.
Los cavalier en el papel eran superiores, pero les faltaron agallas y fue lo que lo Indiana le sobran.