CLEVELAND, Ohio — Donovan Mitchell wrapped up his somber and tempered eight-minute postmortem, slowly walked off the podium and punched the door leading to the media center.
The lasting mark on this once-special season was the dent he left with his right fist.
“We took a step in the right direction, but we didn’t win a championship and we didn’t complete the end goal,” Mitchell said. “There are no moral victories here. We just didn’t get the job done.”
[The top-seeded Cavs lost Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the underdog Pacers, 114-105](https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2025/05/cavs-dream-season-turns-into-nightmare-with-114-105-playoff-elimination-loss-to-indiana-pacers.html) — an exclamation point on Indiana’s five-game pummeling that showed Cleveland how far it still needs to go in understanding what playoff basketball is truly all about.
“We didn’t get to the level we wanted to get to,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We’re not pleased with that. We’re not celebrating the season. I was, quite honestly, expecting more. It’s disappointing. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Processing _this_ playoff flameout won’t be easy.
Shortly after the final buzzer, Mitchell, still fully clad in his sweat-soaked uniform, went back to the court and sat alone on the bench.
His expression immutable, Mitchell was trying to gather his thoughts, likely wondering what it will take to finally slay the reaper that arrives every year around the same time — an unwelcomed guest wielding a scythe, eager to snatch Mitchell’s soul in the first or second round.
It happened again.
Eight years in the playoffs. Sixty-three games. Zero beyond Round Two.
“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 this league. Give them credit. We didn’t do the things necessary. I love playing in that (expletive) arena, man. That energy. That crowd. We were 0-3 at home. This place is special. This place is really special. And we didn’t get it done, especially at home. That’s what hurts.
“I told you during the year, we were gonna be judged off this. There’s gonna be a lot of talk. That’s what comes with it. Everybody’s going to write us off. It’s not personal. So, yeah. …
“Let the city down, let each other down.”
This early exit isn’t a reflection of Mitchell. A no-doubt playoff riser with championship-level talent, heart and mental toughness, he was the only Cavalier who consistently played to their standard during this failure, tallying at least 33 points in four of the five games against Indiana, including a pair of 40-point outbursts.
Inside the hushed locker room, veteran Tristan Thompson got dressed and then walked toward the corner where Mitchell was seated, staring at the nothingness remaining from the season.
“You turned a corner this year,” the ever-honest Thompson said, mentioning Mitchell’s sacrifice and willingness to empower teammates. “Your time is coming. The basketball gods will eventually reward you.”
That’s part of what makes this abrupt ending so cruel.
Mitchell did just about everything right. The organization did as well.
Following last year’s conference semifinal loss to eventual champion Boston, the Koby Altman-led front office resisted temptation to blowtorch the roster. They decided, instead, to see what the players would look like in a different system, with a different coach, making the bold decision to fire J.B. Bickerstaff despite back-to-back playoff appearances. Following a lengthy search, they identified Kenny Atkinson — the quirky mad scientist who collected every major coaching award. He was the right guy at the right time — even if Indiana’s Rick Carlisle outmaneuvered in this second-round chess match, getting to checkmate quicker than anyone expected.
Then, at the trade deadline, the Cavs made another courageous decision, sending away locker room favorites Georges Niang and Caris LeVert along with multiple future draft picks for versatile swingman De’Andre Hunter — a perceived missing puzzle piece with size, shooting, switchability and a defensive pedigree.
The Cavs purposefully and successfully managed minutes during the regular season, making sure players were fresh and healthy — mentally and physically — going into the playoffs. They reimagined the offense, creating a modern, diverse, unpredictable and player-friendly system that unlocked phenom Evan Mobley and shredded opponents.
Entering 2024-25 with title aspirations, Cleveland spent most of the season with the league’s best mark. It clinched a playoff berth in March and rewrote the record books.
An astonishing 15-0 start — just the fourth team ever to open a season on that kind of streak. Sixty-four wins, 16 more than the previous season and second-most in franchise history. Three separate winning streaks of at least 12 games. A franchise-record 16-gamer in February and March.
A joyful culture. Locker room hilarity. Dancing frogs. Amusing memes. Immaculate vibes. Cavalanches. Eight months of fun, dominance and magnificence.
Tuesday night renders it all immaterial.
The Cavs were the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. They looked it in the first round, pounding the helpless Miami Heat by 122 points, the most lopsided playoff series victory of all time. They were supposed to win this series, too — favored at the start and in all five games.
This season was never about the journey. It was about the destination. And they have arrived at the same place — an organizational crossroads.
How much closer is Cleveland to winning a championship? How much did injuries play a role in this setback? Does this team have the right pieces around Mitchell? What’s the path to improvement?
There’s no coaching change coming this time. But roster renovation will be considered — even with salary cap and apron rules that could make it more complicated. Either way, the Cavaliers’ future with this suddenly expensive roster is now in question thanks to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that has already forced other successful teams into difficult cost-cutting choices. They are about $27 million over the projected 2026 luxury-tax threshold with only 10 players under contract. There’s a real possibility of a fresh-faced team in a few months. There might even be painful subtractions.
But that’s a conversation for another day.
In Tuesday’s must-win matchup, All-Star point guard Darius Garland — playing through a sprained big toe that caused him to change shoes during the game and had him walking slowly, with a limp, out of the arena shortly after 11 p.m. — finished with just 11 points on 4 of 16 from the field while looking mentally fragile at times and being visibly frustrated by Indiana’s relentless on-ball pressure, energy and suffocating defense.
Clearly not himself, with every sharp movement painful, the injury makes Garland a tough evaluation. Nonetheless, the series numbers aren’t pretty. Cleveland was nearly 19 points per 100 possessions _better_ with Garland _off_ the court.
“You just wish you were whole, but I don’t think that’s an excuse,” Atkinson said. “I don’t want to say ‘Oh that’s the reason, that’s not the reason.’ They were the better team. They deserved it.”
Starting small forward Max Strus, affectionately known as “Heat Culture” and one of the team’s playoff authorities who sent encouraging messages to the team’s group chat throughout, went scoreless in 26 ineffective minutes while being hunted on post-up switches.
Jarrett Allen was a non-factor.
Ty Jerome, after finishing third for NBA Sixth Man of the Year thanks to a breakthrough campaign, got benched for the entire first half Tuesday. In five games against Indiana, Jerome’s lack of foot speed, quickness and athleticism were all exploited, as he averaged a pedestrian 8.0 points on 30% shooting and 25% from 3-point range to go with 2.6 assists against 1.8 turnovers.
Isaac Okoro remained an unplayable offensive liability who rarely even looked at the rim.
Hunter, who suffered a dislocated thumb in the fourth quarter of Game 1, needed 12 shots to get his 12 points.
Key reserve Sam Merrill missed Game 5 with a neck strain.
Dean Wade didn’t provide enough pop off the bench.
Mobley, battling a sprained ankle, sizzled early and then faded — a troubling and consistent theme. In eight playoff games, he never once attempted more than 13 shots.
“A lot of things going through my mind. Gotta just take it moment by moment right now.” Mobley said. “We wanted to make that jump, the next step. Got to get better over this offseason and be more prepared, mentally and physically.”
Cleveland, the league’s most prolific offense and group of long-range bombers, made just nine triples and assisted on 10 of its 35 made shots in Game 5 — a drastic change from how it played in the first 86 games, as Indiana’s point-of-attack physicality and size played the biggest role in that. As the series progressed, the Cavs panicked and lost their identity. Or, perhaps, Indiana shattered it.
Multiple double-digit leads vanished in a blink. The ballyhooed bench was outscored by 38 total points. The switch-heavy defense didn’t work. The zone got figured out. Atkinson made some mistakes.
“Frustration,” Hunter said when asked about the season ending. “I don’t think we ever played up to our ability in this series.”
“We wanted to win a championship and just weren’t ready for it,” Jerome added. “They were just a better team, honestly. They were more together, they were more composed. We weren’t ourselves. It’s a lot of disappointment.”
The summer has officially started. The Cavs understand what’s coming.
Biting descriptors will be used. Soft. Immature. Fraudulent. Paper tigers. They did nothing to change that reputation. If anything, they perpetuated it.
Another humbling postseason. Another May looking overmatched — and this time, against a four seed that out-played, out-fought, out-executed and out-muscled them for five games.
It’s the same story. It has become a springtime tradition. The lights are still too bright.
“They’ve been there,” Mitchell said. “I just feel like this is a lesson. We took a step. We didn’t take two. And getting beat down like this. … y’all are gonna write some (expletive) about us. And that’s gonna be fuel. I’ve been here, so I understand. We understand, and now we just got to use it as fuel for next year.
“We’re a good team. And for five, four games, three games, we didn’t show what we’re capable of. Ultimately, that’s what we’re judged on. So, get in the gym, weight room, nutrition, whatever it is, and get back at it, cause y’all gonna write us the (expletive) off.
“But we’ll be back. We’ll be back.”