The Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the best teams in the NBA all season long, but sometimes a bad matchup is all it takes to turn a dream season into a nightmare in a matter of days. That is exactly what happened in this second round playoff series, as the Indiana Pacers swiftly took care of the top seed in the Eastern Conference in five games.
The Cavs contributed to their own downfall, as did some bad luck; Evan Mobley and Darius Garland were both hampered in this series and Donovan Mitchell played Game 5 on an injured ankle that clearly affected his play. On top of that, Cleveland’s own blunders down the stretch of some games, Particularly Game 2, is a major reason why the Cavs are eliminated.
However, there’s no question that this was a bad matchup, especially in Cleveland. The Cavs went 36-5 in the regular season and the playoffs in front of their home crowd against the other 28 teams in the league, but they incredibly went 0-5 in five games in Cleveland against the Pacers.
Of course, that is an incredible stat that is too drastic to be a coincidence. The Pacers had a very good team all season, but they were levels below Cleveland throughout the year.
Indiana plays with a lot of pace and consistently gets good looks on offense. In this series, the Pacers knocked a lot of those looks down, making it very tough on the Cleveland defense. Tyrese Haliburton was excellent at the end of games and was the most clutch player on the floor.
On the other end, the Cavs struggled with who the fifth player on the floor should be alongside Garland, Mitchell, Mobley and Jarrett Allen. De’Andre Hunter was injured for part of the series after hurting his hand in Game 1, while Max Strus had an inconsistent few weeks capped off by a disastrous zero-point performance in the Game 5 loss.
Now, the Cavs are faced with tough questions about what to do with this core and this roster. This squad was obviously very successful this season, but they have now had three consecutive disappointing playoff runs. If they do opt to change things up, one of the top four stars could be on the move this offseason.
