Donovan Mitchell thought this Cleveland Cavaliers team would be the one to get him to a conference final for the first time. Instead, this trip ended with the same heartbreak as his other three to this point in the playoffs.
Mitchell started, played 38 minutes and scored 39 points despite a sprained ankle, but it wasn’t enough as the Indiana Pacers wore down the Cavaliers in the second half and eliminated the Eastern Conference’s top seed 114-105 on Tuesday night.
Ten minutes after the game ended, Mitchell went back on the court at Rocket Arena and was still shocked over the sudden ending to the season.
“I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it. I still don’t want to believe it,” he said.
The Pacers’ victory in Game 5 on Tuesday night was similar to the first two games of the series. Cleveland jumped out to a big first-half lead, but Indiana’s quick tempo eventually took a toll.
“I have to give our guys credit, they earned this,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “This was one of the best teams in the league. I’m sorry their season had to end like this. They had the perfect season, and we came along and were hot at the right time.”
Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points and Pascal Siakam added 21 as the Pacers reached the conference finals in consecutive years for the first time since 2013-14.
For Donovan, there was just lingering regret. “We just didn’t get the job done. Nothing else needs to be said … We let the city down. We let each other down,” he said.
The Cavaliers easily dispatched of Miami with a four-game sweep in the first round but could never find the answer against an Indiana squad that plays quick and wears teams down.
After going 64-18 in the regular season – which included three winning streaks of 12 games or more – Mitchell and the Cavaliers will ponder what might have been in what is an open chase for the NBA title this year.
“We have a window with this group. I believe in this team. That’s what just [hurts]. We’re a good team, but ultimately for three games, we didn’t seem it,” Mitchell said. “There is going to be a long of talk [from the media]. We didn’t capitalize, so everyone is going to write us off. It’s, ‘What are we going to do about it next year?’ Y’all are going to say a lot. And that’s what it takes. I’ve been here.”
In Tuesday’s other game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half to beat the Denver Nuggets 112-105 and go up 3-2 in their Western Conference semi-final series. Oklahoma City overcame a 44-point, 15-rebound night from Denver’s Nikola Jokić. The Thunder can clinch the series on Thursday in Denver. Gilgeous-Alexander made 12 of 23 field goals and had seven assists. He led six Thunder players in double figures. Jokić made 17 of 25 field goals. Denver’s Jamal Murray scored 28 points, but he made just 10 of 27 shots.
“We had no choice. The game obviously wasn’t going our way. But we always say the answer is never a hero play or anything out of the ordinary,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “It’s being who we are. It’s trusting each other playing with all five on both ends. Whatever the problem is, we can fix it with the collective effort.”
