The Cleveland Cavaliers fell to a 3-1 hole against the Indiana Pacers in their Eastern Conference semifinals series on May 11. The outcome was particularly shocking since the Cavaliers won 64 games in the regular season by an average victory margin of 9.54 points.
Did the Cavaliers dupe everyone into thinking they’re legitimate title contenders?
That’s the consensus of NBA legend Dwight Howard.
“Cleveland was definitely a front runner team this year,” Howard wrote on social media after watching the Cavaliers suffer a 129-109 blowout loss in Game 2.
The Pacers’ 80-39 first-half advantage tied the NBA record for the highest points differential (41) between teams after 24 minutes of playoff basketball. The previous record was incidentally set by the Cavaliers when they outscored the Celtics, 72-31, in Game 2 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals.
Donovan Mitchell Injury Worry
If trailing 80-39 at halftime wasn’t enough, the Cavaliers got more bad news when All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell limped off the court after shootaround. Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson later revealed that Mitchell would get an MRI ahead of a must-win Game 5.
“Left ankle injury,” Atkinson said. “He’ll get an MRI tomorrow. I mean, no idea [of his status]. Obviously, he couldn’t go in the second half, so we’ll see what the MRI says.”
Atkinson admitted that the Pacers raised their level after dropping Game 3, and that his team simply couldn’t match the opponent’s intensity.
“Complete domination by them,” he said. “It’s kind of the story in every facet. There weren’t any tactics involved. They dominated us in every facet of the game…They raised their game to another level, and we didn’t match it. We talked about it; knew it was coming…Their force was greater in every sense.”
Can Cavaliers Bounce Back?
The Cavaliers are trying to become just the 14th team in NBA postseason history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit. Of the 14 teams, nine came back from a 3-1 hole in the 21st century, with the Nuggets being the latest, doing so on two separate occasions in the 2020 playoffs. The Cavs, of course, overcame a 3-1 deficit in the 2016 NBA Finals, becoming the first team to pull off the comeback in the championship round.
While the odds are heavily stacked against them, the Cavaliers are quietly confident that they can advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. All-Star guard Darius Garland spoke in an optimistic tone after the Game 4 loss.
“This franchise has been down 3-1 before,” he told reporters. “This group can do it. We’ve got the talent. We’ve got the skillset. The camaraderie is always there. We just have to go out and play with the physicality we play with, and our brand of basketball.”
If Mitchell isn’t cleared in time for Game 5, Garland will be expected to take on a much bigger load, specifically as a scorer and playmaker. The 25-year-old missed the first two games of the series with a toe injury. He averaged 20.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists in the regular season at career-best shooting splits of 47/40/88.
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