Cavs Star 'Proud' After Heartbreaking Playoff Collapse Against Pacers

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Paul White | Last updated May 8, 2025 8:36 AM ET

Donovan Mitchell is not the first name you think of when you name NBA players who you’d want to lead a team but he has been tasked with the difficult role of being the face of the franchise for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This plan worked out during the regular season as the they had the second-best record in basketball and were hoping to have similar success in the playoffs.

The run started out promising with a sweep of the Miami Heat, but due to some injury complications Cleveland finds themselves down 2-0 to the Indiana Pacers.

All-Star point guard Darius Garland hurt his toe in the Miami series and is yet to return while his teammate Evan Mobley missed game two against the Pacers with an ankle injury.

The Cavs’ trade deadline acquisition, De’Andre Hunter, also missed the game meaning that the team was down three starters for the contest.

Cleveland came out firing on all cylinders and built up an early 32-15 lead.

The lead would eventually balloon to over 20 points before Indiana led a furious comeback to win the game.

After dropping the first two games of the series at home, the Cavs now have their backs against the wall and don’t have much margin for error left.

Mitchell was asked about the historic collapse and gave a surprisingly positive answer.

The former Utah Jazz guard said that he was, “Proud” of how resilient his team was and the energy and effort they exerted with so many guys out of the lineup.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson also relayed a similarly calming message in hopes that cooler heads will prevail.

Cleveland was winning for much of the game before it became evident towards the end that they didn’t have any gas left in the tank.

If they would have been able to pull out the victory it would have easily been one of the more impressive playoff victories in recent memory.

Despite the effort, the Pacers still ripped their hearts out, so they’ll need to regroup and recover in an attempt to salvage their season.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: