It was a valiant effort by the Cleveland Cavaliers but their NBA Playoffs run had to be cut short. Coach JB Bickerstaff was losing two of his biggest stars, Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen, in their clash against the Boston Celtics. This made it easy for the Cavs to collapse given that they had to spread out the production of two big-time scorers to their squad. It was not the series that most of the fans expected and it even showed with Dan Gilbert’s post-game reaction.
Cavs owner gets real
Dan Gilbert is one of the owners who is very involved with the franchise. The Cavs’ big boss lives and breathes Cleveland which is why it was a no-brainer for him to pick the team up. Their squad finally got more success after rebuilding due to LeBron James’ departure. Unfortunately, they just could not net as many winning results due to the injury bug. Nonetheless, he is still proud of the JB Bickerstaff-led squad for battling it out with the Celtics.
“Cleveland, it’s heartbreaking, but I am proud of the fight and the progress of this team. Thanks to all the Cavs fans and supporters who were there all season for us. The future is bright in The Land! #LetEmKnow,” Dan Gilbert wrote on X.
Hope for the Cavs started dwindling when Jarrett Allen went down. The big man got hit by Franz Wagner in their first-round series and never recovered. Reportedly, he is experiencing a lot of pain in the area where he got hit and has not recovered since. Coach Bickerstaff has not fielded his elite rim protector since their series win over the Orlando Magic.
Donovan Mitchell, on the other hand, is nursing a calf strain. He was already not available for Game 4 of this NBA Playoffs clash. So, his inability to play Game 5 was not at all a surprise. His absence meant that a big scoring vacuum was left in the middle of the Cavs system and it needed to be patched up.
Celtics knock them out of contention
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At the earlier stages of this game, one would think that Coach JB Bickerstaff had a complete squad. The NBA Playoffs game was all tied up at 28 points at the end of the first quarter but that was the closest the Cavs would get to the Celtics. Everyone on Coach Joe Mazzulla’s squad started firing on all cylinders and their field goals found the bottom of the net 52.5% of the time.
Jayson Tatum led the way by scoring 25 points while Al Horford was the second scoring option with his 22 points. A total of six Celtics notched double-digit scoring numbers. The number could have been seven if Luke Kornet hit another bucket to add to his eight points. Nonetheless, the Cavs struggled but were trying to find answers.
Evan Mobley was hammering his way into the paint and taking advantage of the old Horford and absent Kristaps Porzingis. He notched 33 points for the Cavs. Unexpectedly, it was Marcus Morris who made it rain too. Mook notched 25 points to keep his team afloat but the Celtics were just too deep. Unfortunately, the season came to a close with a 113 to 98 scoreline.