Cavaliers' Historic Season Needs Saving After Epic Meltdown In Game 2 Loss To Pacers

Those overrated chants had suddenly aged like a milk carton left out overnight. And the same Rocket Arena crowd that sent the jab Haliburton's way was left silenced. Stunned. Humbled.

One shot erased what was trending toward being an epic Cavaliers playoff moment. With Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and De'Andre Hunter all sidelined with injuries, Donovan Mitchell answered the bell as the star that he is.

Hobbled by a calf strain, Mitchell gutted his way to 48 points, most of it coming on drives to the basket as his jump shot continues to be M.I.A. Mitchell was just one-of-eight from three, knocked down just two shots from outside the paint and made nearly 10 trips to the free throw line.

It was an old-school near 50-point performance, as Mitchell earned every single bucket he got, many of them ending him writhing in pain on the floor, slow to get up after being fouled, or contorting his body to make some ridiculous circus shot.

It was pure brilliance...wasted.

Cleveland also blew a 20-point lead in Game 2. It wasted a career performance from Max Strus, who provided 18 points, including five threes in support of Mitchell. Jarrett Allen provided his standard, ho-hum double-double with 22 points and 11 boards.

Kenny Atkinson unloaded the clip, so to speak, by stretching the bounds of his bench to play role players like Craig Porter Jr. and Javonte Green. That duo each contributed an individual playoff moment that might have been remembered for years to come had the Cavaliers held on.

A crunch time choke job by the Cavs and Haliburton's game-winner turned each of their highlights into footnotes.

Playoff games like this one leave so many questions on the table. What if Donovan Mitchell isn't called for a foul trying to swipe his arms through Aaron Nesmith as he advanced the ball with 46 seconds to play? What if Strus' inbound play with 28 seconds left doesn't get stolen by Andrew Nembhard and lead to Haliburton's last-second trip to the charity stripe?

What if Haliburton doesn't miss the second free-throw attempt, grab his own rebound and put himself in position to break Cleveland's heart with a three-pointer made for Hollywood?

We'll never know.

The Cavaliers have no time to dwell on those things either. Battered and beaten, they trail 2-0 in the series as it shifts to Indianapolis for Games 3 and 4. Two days off could pave the way for any of Mobley, Garland or Hunter to get healthy enough to give it a go, but there's plenty of uncertainty about the availability of all three.

How Cleveland responds to one of the most unfathomable meltdowns in franchise history will determine whether or not a season with championship aspirations goes to waste, the same way Mitchell's 48 points did.

Haliburton silenced his critics in . The Cavs will have plenty of their own detractors to answer for come Friday.

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