CLEVELAND (AP) — 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 left 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.
About 10 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 All-Star guard was questionable two hours before tipoff after he did not play the second half of the Cavaliers’ 129-109 loss at Indiana on Sunday after he reaggravated the ankle injury.
Mitchell provided an early clue about his status three hours before the game when he took to X with the Cavaliers’ hashtag theme of #LetEmKnow.
Coach Kenny Atkinson then said during his pregame availability that Mitchell participated in Tuesday morning’s shootaround.
All doubts were then put to rest when Mitchell came out for his usual pregame shooting routine less than an hour before tipoff.
Mitchell didn’t show any effects from the injury during the first quarter when he aggressively drove to the basket. Of his 13 points in the first 12 minutes, seven were at the foul line.
However, Mitchell struggled from the field the entire game. He was 8 for 25, including 4 for 13 on 3-pointers.
Mitchell was 15 of 21 at the foul line, but missed all three shots with 1:49 remaining and the Cavs trailing 106-100. He would make a 3-pointer on the ensuing trip down the floor to get Cleveland within three before the Pacers went on an 8-2 run to close the game.
“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.
Mitchell thought the decisive moment of the series came in Game 1, when Indiana went on a 15-4 run during the fourth quarter of a 121-112 victory.
Cleveland was missing Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and De’Andre Hunter in Game 2, but blew a 20-point in the second half and lost 120-119.
“I think Game 1 set the tone. And obviously, guys are out for Game 2 and you’re fighting an uphill battle,” said Mitchell, who averaged 34.2 points in the series and 29.6 in the postseason. “We had some mental lapses. You can’t have that because you’re fighting an uphill battle against a team with the fastest pace in history.”
Cleveland was second in the league in the regular season with a 38.3% accuracy rate on 3-pointers, but was 29.4% against Indiana, including 9 for 35 on Tuesday night.
“The season was not a success in terms of where our goal was. Success would be going to the conference finals, but we didn’t do that,” Atkinson said. “Quite honestly, I expected more coming off the Miami series (a four-game sweep). Now, we’ve got to figure out the next piece.”
It is the second time Mitchell has been on a top-seeded team that didn’t make it to the conference finals. In 2021, Utah lost to the LA Clippers in six games.
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 (stinks). 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 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 of (stuff). And that’s what it takes. I’ve been here.”
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