A few minutes after the final buzzer sounded and with the dust just beginning to settle on a 64-win season for the Cleveland Cavaliers that did not produce even a conference finals appearance, Donovan Mitchell returned to the sideline and took a seat on the bench.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Mitchell said following the Cavs’ season-ending 114-105 loss in Game 5 on Tuesday night. “Didn’t want to believe it. Don’t want to believe it. Still don’t want to believe it.”
The Cavaliers led the Eastern Conference all season, starting 15-0 and racking up three 10-game winning streaks en route to finishing with the second-best record in franchise history. Yet, they were upset by the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals in a 4-1 series loss.
Indiana, after winning all three series games in Cleveland, will face the Boston Celtics or New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals. The Cavs hadn’t lost consecutive home games at any point this season and blew a 19-point first-half lead Tuesday.
“I love playing in that f—ing arena,” Mitchell said. “That energy, that crowd. We were 0-3 at home, let the city down. This place is special. This place is really special and we didn’t get it done.”
Mitchell had been the Cavs’ best offensive player all series, averaging 34.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists, despite playing through a left ankle injury, which he aggravated at halftime in Game 4. Still, Mitchell gutted out a 35-point performance in Game 5 despite shooting 8-of-25 from the field (4-of-13 on 3-pointers).
“We’ve had a lot of positives,” Mitchell said of his team. “But we didn’t capitalize. Now we’ve got to use this motivation. Everybody’s going to write us off.”
Injuries to several of the Cavs’ key rotation players changed the complexion of the series.
