Donovan Mitchell was incredibly emotional about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season, one of the best ones in team history that ended abruptly Tuesday night.
The Indiana Pacers held on late to beat the Cavaliers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, which gave them the 4-1 series win and secured their second straight trip to the conference finals. That left Mitchell and the Cavaliers, who had earned the top seed in the conference, heading home early.
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An hour after the game ended, Mitchell returned to the court to sit on the bench.
“I just couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe it, don’t want to believe it, still don’t want to believe it,” Mitchell said. “It’s tough. It’s tough to win in this league … We didn’t get it done, especially at home. That’s what hurts, you know?”
Mitchell had a game-high 35 points and nine rebounds in the final loss. He averaged 34.2 points throughout the series, and he battled an apparent ankle injury in Cleveland’s last two games. He left Game 5 briefly after missing the entire second half of Game 4 with the same issue Sunday. Mitchell, 28, signed a three-year, $150 million contract extension with the team last summer.
While it’s hard to consider a trip to the second round of the playoffs as a failure, it’s easy to see why many might view this season as just that for Cleveland. The Cavaliers, after starting out the season with 15 straight wins, won 64 games in the regular season. That’s the second-highest in team history, and the franchise’s third 60-win season.
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But the Cavaliers fell completely flat in their series with the Pacers, who won all three of the games at Rocket Arena in Ohio and had little issue getting the win.
To make matters worse for Mitchell, he’s never made it to a conference finals in his career, as ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins quickly pointed out on social media. He lost twice in this round with the Utah Jazz.
Despite the loss, and the criticism that’s sure to come in the coming days and weeks, Mitchell isn’t giving up hope just yet. He, along with team owner Dan Gilbert, vowed to run it back.
“Y’all are going to write us the f**k off, man. But we’ll be back,” Mitchell said. “We let the city down, we let each other down. But we’ll be back.”
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