It’s over. It wasn’t supposed to end, and it sure as heck wasn’t supposed to end like this.
In his postgame comments, Donovan Mitchell said they let the city down. Individually, probably not. For all of Mitchell’s flaws, his talent and character are someone you can (and should) absolutely get behind. But collectively, yes, this team simply did not perform to their capabilities and lost in ways that’s hard to comprehend and has potential to change this core’s trajectory.
Kenny Atkinson said the next jump is being better mentally and being able to handle physicality better. If the coaching staff has been echoing that for three postseason exits now, what needs to change? What can change?
It’s been three postseasons now where shooting has let the Cavs down. The Cavs finished dead last in 2nd Round 3P% at 29.4% after finishing 2nd in the regular season at 38.3%.
This was also supposed to be the season where their depth carried them throughout the postseason, and they had multiple two-way wings to interchange out as matchups changed. After averaging 39.7 bench points per game (8th in the regular season) that dropped down to 30 points and somehow their 6th Man of the Year candidate became unplayable, and Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade looked like career journeyman more than well paid role players.
There are longer discussions to be had about if “this” works and how to “fix” this but for now it’s incredibly concerning the core four posted a -11 net rating in 75 minutes together this postseason. Injuries and other external factors make it harder to see the forest through the trees but it’s now two straight postseasons this core has posted a negative net rating with 2022-2023 being the only positive year at +0.9. If these are your four best players and they’re continually getting worse in the postseason, how do you rectify that?
It’s not the fact they lost; it’s the fact in how they lost. It was a gentleman’s sweep, and they went 0-3 on their home floor – a place they had homecourt advantage in for the series went 34-7 during the regular season. Injuries contributed to their inadequate performance, but it doesn’t excuse the lack of consistent execution and effort that plagued their losses.
Game 2 was the game they could never recover from, and Game 5 had remnants of it. A big lead, an inability to consistently execute their game plan and a game they should have won. Two games they had significant double digit leads only for it to be washed away down the stretch.
Combine those two losses with not even showing up in Game 3 and it speaks to how they lost being more of the issue with the losses themselves. How do you process that moving forward? Is that a fatal flaw of this team? Can it be corrected?
The frustrations in Game 5 boil down to the following: They had a game plan; the game plan was working and then they went away from the game plan. Watching the second half was like watching a trainwreck coming from a mile away while you are strapped in a chair with duct tape over your mouth. Okay, maybe not that bad but that’s what it felt like.
The game didn’t start out great, but it eventually picked up. It was also a microcosm of how they needed to play and how they wanted to play. Their first four misses were all jump shots by Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus and their first two makes were shots around the rim with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. The shooting was off but pounding the paint was always on (and had been their advantage the entire series).
They went 2-for-10 to begin the game and in any other scenario it would have put them in a significant hole but luckily the Pacers didn’t shoot it much better as they were 2-for-11 to start. It gave the Cavs just enough time to find their legs and get their offensive rhythm going.
Tyrese Haliburton picked up two early fouls and had to exit five minutes into the game. It was the golden opportunity they were looking for that opened the door for some early momentum.
After Haliburton went out, look at the field goal makes: Mobley dunk, Allen 10’ floating jump shot, Garland 17’ pullup jump shot, Allen dunk, Mobley layup, Mitchell layup, Mitchell 9’ floating jump shot. Notice a trend?
The more they went inside the better. They didn’t settle and continually attacked the weakness of the Pacers defense. 9 of the 10 1Q field goal makes were either inside the paint or the restricted area. Their aggressive was also rewarded with 12 free-throw attempts. The result? A 12-point lead at quarter’s end.
It’s not likely a coincidence it also took the Pacers nearly 10+ minutes to make their first three. It’s also not likely a coincidence the Pacers scored just 19 points in the 1Q. They were missing some open shots, but as had been the entire series, when the Cavs had high quality offensive possessions it led into high quality defensive possessions and make Indiana work more for their buckets. When they could start turning quick shots and misses into their offense is when they got flowing. The Cavs attack inside put the game in the way the Cavs wanted to play and played better.
Mobley and Allen combined for 8 FGA in the 1Q and 6 FGM. Want to guess how many they had the rest of the game? 10 FGA (7 by Mobley) and 6 FGM. So how could that happen?
Kenny told reporters pre-game he was going to make some adjustments, and we got the taste of them in the 1Q: no Ty Jerome. De’Andre Hunter and Dean Wade were the first two off the bench with Isaac Okoro following them.
The Cavs are better when Jerome is on, but he played so poorly, Kenny had no choice. It’s one thing to miss shots but his tunnel vision only dragged the offense down more as his misses turned into easy opportunities the other way for Indiana and consistently could not playmake and set others up as he’d done so well all year long.
For the time, the Mitchell or Garland and Allen or Mobley with Okoro, Wade, Hunter lineup worked well. Surrounding the guards with size, defense and switchability provided a defensive floor they struggled to find at times. They can switch without creating a mismatch on the perimeter or create a rebounding disadvantage.
The other adjustment Kenny went to was more of Mobley and Allen, earlier. Typically, that matchup doesn’t get run until the starters reenter to finish the quarter but those two were playing early and often in the quarter.
One lack of an adjustment that was hard to comprehend was the minimal number of defined sets. Like this one. For all the work they did to build a system it seemed to be cast aside at times and devolve into hero ball and lack of ball movement.
To that point: The Cavs had just 5 assists on 19 field goal makes by half. The Cavs earned their offensive efficiency by moving players and ball and being democratic in their offensive distribution. But for some reason, that changed.
The second quarter can be defined by Mitchell and Garland’s performances. After finding tremendous success in attacking the paint they simply didn’t. Mitchell and Garland combined for 8 FGA and 0 assists. They also failed their bigs who had just 3 FGA after 8 FGA in the 1Q and a large lead to boot.
There must be accountability on some end. Garland and Mitchell must be accountable to the betterment of the team, and recognize that, and Kenny must hold Mitchell and Garland accountable and call out bad play when he sees it. The hero ball 2Q created momentum for the Pacers. The Cavs were playing the exact way Indiana wanted them to play and Garland and Mitchell fell right into the trap.
The Pacers went on a 6-0 run forcing a Kenny timeout. By that point, the Pacers started to find their groove with the change in the Cavs strategy.
It also didn’t help the Cavs had 4 turnovers halfway through the 1Q compared to just 2 in the 2Q. Live ball misses and turnovers are fuel for the Pacers offensive attack. They proceeded to rattle off a larger run this time to the tune of 10-4.
That Pacers run was also fueled by their perimeter shot coming back. After going 1-for-8 in the 1Q, they went 7-for-12 in the 2Q. With a team shooting as poorly as the Cavs were, closing that gap was like crossing the continental divide.
The most frustrating part was seeing Tyrese Haliburton go 5-for-5 on his three-point attempts and many of them largely contested. It wasn’t the fact that Haliburton made them it was the fact they were largely uncontested, without anyone near and at times a victim of poor defensive communication.
Haliburton got hot and that’s never a recipe for success. He finished the quarter with 15 of the 33 Pacer points and added in 2 assists.
The story of the third quarter was the story of the entire series: Why does the energy and the effort come and go as much as it does? Especially at home? Especially in a must-win scenario?
Again: Losing is not the issue but it’s how they lost. They couldn’t make shots, but they also couldn’t give the energy and effort required to win. The 3Q has been the Cavs worst quarter all year (11th best net rating in the regular season) and how they came out of halftime after Indiana grabbed momentum in the 2Q was deflating.
The arena felt it, the players felt it, the announcers felt it. The fans felt a sense of fear and dread which zapped their ferocity. Greg Anthony commented on the Cavs desire and will to play and noted how poor it was.
The 3Q felt like a fight where the Pacers had the Cavs on the ropes and the Cavs couldn’t get off the ropes and were just content to take a beating. The Pacers went on a 17-2 run to grab a double-digit lead and the Cavs junkyard dog chain with it.
It was a helpless feeling. The Cavs looked like they didn’t know what hit them and how to recover. There’s a lot of soul searching to be done this offseason and there’s unfortunately a lot of moments to refer to.
The 3Q was also one of those quarters where when one thing goes wrong, they all go wrong. They had 13 FGA in the paint + restricted area yet only made 4. Some were easy misses and others were layups they normally make. Mitchell missed an easy bunny off a putback, and Garland missed a driving layup. When it rains it pours.
Shooting 26.9% doesn’t mean a lot of assists by just 1 (!) assist on 7 FGM again underscores the consistent offensive issues the Cavs faced in the game.
The 3Q was so bad it took Ty Jerome giving them life to get back into it. Imagine that. Jerome had been banished to the bench earlier in the game and perhaps it triggered something in him. Jerome banged in a three-pointer immediately upon checking in which was the first in over 7-minutes for the Cavs.
Confidence is never something Jerome lacked so when he put home another three-pointer it felt like this could be just the swing the Cavs needed. They were reeling and were still down 9 but it gave them some offensive solutions they didn’t have before.
Despite how poorly the Cavs played between the middle of the 2Q to the beginning of the 4Q, they somehow still had a chance. They went on a 10-2 run to start the 4Q to get back into the game and cut it to a one possession game.
During that run, the Cavs held to the Pacers to just 2 FGA while the Cavs managed 8 FGA and 4 FTA. Possessions matter in the playoffs so the Cavs ability to increase their opportunities while limit the Pacers helped balance out the Cavs overall inefficiencies on the offensive end enough to where it gave them life.
Playoff Mitchell started to come out in the 4Q. He had 4 FTA midway through the quarter and was consistent in attacking despite his ailments. His shot also started to find its way back with back-to-back three-pointers to keep the Cavs close. It solved an immediate problem but not the underlying one.
The offensive quality was poor in the quarter. Mitchell’s threes were unsustainable in that the way the Cavs offense was flowing, it required those heroic efforts to score. The Cavs were not getting their free-flowing, good looks that they had all season. Instead, it was giving Mitchell the ball and hope he makes magic.
So of course, when it gets down to it, if that can’t be sustained for 5-6 minutes to end the game the deficit can’t be completely erased. Mitchell’s threes gave them false hope and covered up the offensive issues that plagued them all game.
In between Mitchell’s 2nd 3PM and 3rd 3PM, the Cavs went almost three minutes without scoring – they went 0-for-5. In that same span, the Pacers put up 10 points as the Cavs lack of quality offensively lead into quality Pacer offensive possessions. Where did you hear that before?
The Pacers 8 points in the final 90 seconds left the Cavs scrambling as they tried to complete a last-minute frantic comeback but Myles Turner’s spot-up three, just like his one to end the half in Game 2, put a dagger in the Cavs heart. As the shot sank, so did the realization set in that it wasn’t the Cavs year.
Mitchell came out after the game, and after his comments, that it was hard to comprehend what happened. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, especially this way.
There’s a lot to digest and a lot of discussion to be had about what’s next. That’s for another article. But for now, the Cavs unfortunately left the series with more questions than answers and left it in a way that’s been all too familiar of late.
Mitchell finished with 35 points but took 25 shots to do it. It was supplemented by his 21 FTA which is just as impressive when you consider his lower leg injury. But for the Pacers, this is way they were okay playing and have seen other teams be okay with as well: Let the guards go off but limit everything else.
To that end: Mobley was always the most important piece and will continue being the most important piece moving forward. He is the guy that needs to be “the guy” if they want to take this next step. He had 24 points (8-foi-12, 1-2 on 3s), 11 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 assist. He’s consistently produced when he’s been called upon but unfortunately wasn’t called on enough. The talk last offseason was unlocking Mobley, now it needs to shift to relying on Mobley.
If there was a way to go out, it was not the way Jarrett Allen did it. 9 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 turnovers is as uninspiring of a performance as one could ask for. There are a lot of questions if Allen can consistently raise his game and play at a level the Cavs need in one of their core pieces and performances like this don’t tamp down those conversations.
The bench provided some pop – Hunter had 12pts and 5 rebounds on 41% shooting (2-for-4 on 3s); Jerome came on late; Wade and Okoro had some good minutes defensively but largely unproductive offensively. Sam Merrill sat out with a neck injury. The bench powered them all year took more than they gave and the inability to lift the rest of the team up.
Just in all of this, the coaches need to improve along with the players. Kenny had some wins in the adjustments he made but, in the end, it wasn’t enough and there was a lack of accountability on both ends of the floor that ultimately starts and stops with the head coach.
Hearing Atkinson say the Cavs need to step up mentally and physically will be etched in fans memories as the offseason plays out. The Cavs have all the talent – they had one of the best seasons in NBA history, they had four All-Stars (almost five) and are positioned well. But in the end, their talent was outplayed by will and a team playing better collectively and being able to play their game and dictate the game.
Never once did you mention the injuries. The lackadaisical layup by Mitchell was likely caused by exhaustion trying to do too much because his teammates weren't producing; I'm sure if he had to do it again that wouldn't have happened and you know under normal circumstances he would've power dunked it. You can say injuries are no excuse and try to be a macho man and ignore the pain. But that's just plain stupid male ego talking.
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