The Cleveland Cavaliers were so awful in the first half of game four of their series with the Indiana Pacers that I did what I rarely do- I quit watching the game.
Indiana led by FORTY-ONE at the half and cruised to a twenty-point win, 129-109.
Darius Garland led Cleveland with twenty-one points.
I will keep this brief since I didn't watch the second half.
I'll give DeAndre Hunter credit for knocking down Bennedict Mathurin after he was cheap-shotted (Mathurin was ejected from the game)
Donovan Mitchell injured his ankle, didn't play in the second half, and will undergo an MRI today.
That's what I have after a pitiful game from Cleveland, who has one choice- win the next three games or their season has ended.
Donovan Mitchell's forty-eight points weren't enough to hold off the late run of the Indiana Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton's three-pointer with two seconds to play gave Indiana a shocking 120-119 win in game two of the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The crippled Cavaliers played without Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and DeAndre Hunter, which handicapped them but they don't grade basketball games on a curve, and the Pacers return home to Indianapolis for games three and four with a two games to none lead.
Max Strus finished with twenty-three points and Jarrett Allen with twenty-two, supporting Cleveland.
Swashbucklings
1) Donovan Mitchell is a warrior.
He left everything he had on the floor, and I'm unsure of his game two status, considering the pounding he took during this game.
2) Mitchell wasn't perfect; he's still struggling from three, hitting only one of seven attempts.
It's hard to criticize Mitchell, considering the game he played, but his game becomes much more effective when more of those shots from the distances drop.
3) I wasn't sure whether to tip my cap or be angry at Tyrese Haliburton for his "marbles" strut after drilling the game-winner a la Tanaka in Major League 2.
4) Ty Jerome played twenty-eight minutes, shooting one for fourteen from the floor.
Jerome had a fine season, but he's not the type of player who flourishes with more than fifteen to eighteen minutes.
Currently, he's forced to log higher minutes, and his deficiencies are showing.
5) Speaking of forced, Cleveland was also forced to give too many minutes to players who are afraid/ineffective in shooting the ball.
Dean Wade did grab ten rebounds in his thirty minutes, but scored three points on three shots.
Isaac Okoro scored five points and took two shots.
Indiana knows these guys don't want to shoot and aren't worried about them.
6) If you circle one play, it's Tyrese Haliburton's missed free throw.
Haliburton misses, charges the boards, grabs his own rebound, and takes it back to prepare for his game-winner.
Grab that rebound, Cleveland wins.
7) Cleveland did receive 23 points from Max Strus, who had a good game until his lousy pass caused a late turnover, and was given 14 points from Sam Merrill, who hit four three-pointers.
8) What concerns me is how Indiana is beating up the Cavaliers.
I'm not blaming the referees, I'm blaming the team for not standing up to the Pacers, and it's too late to bring someone in.
Jarrett Allen might be too nice, and outside of the washed-up Tristan Thompson, there is no one on the bench to push someone around.
Koby Altman has created a fun team to watch and one that is filled with players who are fun to root for, but that may not be a championship team without someone to bang around and take no quarter from opponents.
I'm not sure how Cleveland adds a player of that type, but they need one in the worst way.
9) Cleveland trails two games to none, so they must split in Indiana to avoid a sweep and have hope for a series win.
Which of Garland, Mobley, and Hunter can play in game three?
They need at least two of the three, I think.
Win game three and hope is back, lose it and it will be a long off-season in Cleveland.
Donovan Mitchell's second-half play allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers to fight off the late charge of the Miami Heat and win game two of their Eastern Conference Quarter-Final series 121-112 in Cleveland.
Mitchell scored eight of his thirty points in the final three minutes to hold off the game effort of the Heat, who rallied back from a deficit as large as nineteen points.
Evan Mobley finished with twenty points and Darius Garland added nineteen to support the Cavaliers, who lead the series two games to zero.
Game three moves the series to Miami on Sunday afternoon.
Swashbucklings
1) Donovan Mitchell did what teams hope superstars do- step up in the clutch.
Mitchell scored seventeen points in the fourth quarter, eight in a row to pull away from Miami, who had closed within a possession of tying the game.
Mitchell drove to the basket, and Miami couldn't stop him.
Period.
2) Hats off to Miami, which trailed by nineteen points late in the third quarter and pushed Cleveland to the limit behind Tyler Herro.
Herro finished with thirty-three points to lead all scorers, and Herro almost matched Mitchell bucket for bucket down the stretch.
3) Evan Mobley didn't play well in game one, but he returned for game two with an excellent game,
Mobley finished with twenty points but held Bam Adebayo to only three field goals from the floor.
Mobley is a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year and would be a deserving winner.
4) The Cavaliers hit eleven three-point attempts in the second quarter, an NBA record for the playoffs.
5) Ty Jerome understandably cooled off after a great game one, scoring six points on two for eight shooting.
6) DeAndre Hunter took some slack from Jerome off the bench with twelve points.
I think Hunter will be a larger factor as the playoffs move forward.
The Cleveland Cavaliers can relax for a bit before getting back to work on building their team around Donovan Mitchell.
That is because the team can count on Mitchell staying in town as Mitchell signed a three-year maximum contract extension valued at 150.3 million dollars.
The contract includes a player option for a fourth year for the 2027-28 season and takes the Cavaliers off the hook as the team begins to make its first-round payments on Mitchell over the coming years.
Mitchell averaged twenty-six, six assists, and five rebounds last season in fifty-five games for Cleveland, shooting forty-six percent from the field.
Mitchell played most of the season through a deep bone bruise in his left knee that caused him to miss several games on multiple occasions, and slowed him noticeably in the postseason before a strained calf benched him for the final two losses of the playoffs against Boston.
Cleveland doesn't think the knee is a long-term concern but it's fair to be concerned even a little about the long-term status of Mitchell's knees.
This contract helps both the team and the player.
The Cavaliers retain their franchise star and avoid a season filled with conjecture about Mitchell's trade value and his looming free agency. At the same time, Mitchell, adds money to his bank account, protects himself from injury with a player option for a fourth year, and is in a perfect position for the "Super Max" extension in a few years.
The questions for the Cavaliers are these- Is the roster currently constructed around Mitchell capable of developing into a title contender?
Can new head coach Kenny Atkinson develop Evan Mobley into a star and take him to the next level?
Is the rumored threat from Rich Paul, the agent for Darius Garland, true where Paul supposedly stated that if Mitchell was re-signed, Garland would demand a trade? If Garland is traded, could the Cavaliers receive a major piece to fit around Mitchell? Or could it be a high draft choice to aid the team in 2025-26?
If Garland would stay in Cleveland, how can his game be changed to work more smoothly with Mitchell and Mobley?
If Cleveland does trade Garland, what position would they try to fill in return?
A pure point guard? The badly needed small forward/wing? An outside shooter, who could allow the ball to be brought up by and then flow through Mitchell?
The Cleveland Cavaliers have accomplished their top goal in the off-season in securing Donovan Mitchell's next few years.
Now can they make the next moves to improve the team around Mitchell to be a serious title challenger?
Donovan Mitchell may not be shooting well from the outside and you can tell that his ailing left knee is sheer misery to play through but no one can doubt Mitchell's desire or will to win as for the second game in a row, Mitchell placed the Cleveland Cavaliers on his back and like his drives to the hoop with defenders all over him, carried them across the line to a 106-94 win over the Orlando Magic in game seven of their Eastern Conference Quarter-Final.
The win gave the Cavaliers a four-to-three series victory, the franchise's first in thirty years that lacked LeBron James on the roster.
Mitchell finished with thirty-nine points to lead Cleveland to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, where they will meet the top-seeded Boston Celtics with game one on Tuesday in Boston.
Swashbucklings
1) Donovan Mitchell's 89 combined points in games six and seven is the second-highest in NBA history behind only Allen Iverson's ninety points in games six and seven in 2001.
2) Cleveland trailed by ten at halftime and by as many as eighteen points in the first half.
According to the NBA, Cleveland's comeback is the largest in a game seven since the league started keeping play-by-play charts in the 1997-98 season.
3) Donovan Mitchell's shooting wasn't tremendous (11 of 27) but what Mitchell did do was bull to the basket and force Orlando to foul him.
Mitchell went to the free throw line seventeen times and drained fifteen of the freebies.
It's the sign of a maturing player and leader when he realizes his shooting is off and moves to the next tactic to keep his team in the game.
4) Cleveland finally received some help from the reserves as Caris LeVert woke up to score fifteen points and long-ranger bomber Sam Merrill hit two three-pointers among his eight points in eleven minutes.
Cleveland will need even more bench help against Boston.
5) Evan Mobley finished with eleven points and sixteen rebounds in forty-one minutes of play on a gimpy ankle.
With the absence of Jarrett Allen, Mobley is forced into a more traditional big man's game and it doesn't fit his game nearly as much as it does Allen but he managed to give Cleveland what they needed on the interior.
6) Paolo Banchero almost matched Donovan Mitchell as Banchero finished with thirty-eight points.
Banchero hit only ten of twenty-eight shots but like Mitchell, Banchero pushed the ball to the basket and drew fouls as Banchero shot eighteen free throws.
7) Franz Wagner was full of vinegar in game five in Cleveland, taunting the fans and acting like a wrestling heel.
When the Magic needed it most, Wagner came up empty as he finished with eight points on one for fifteen shooting.
8) I really don't like that the NBA doesn't re-seed at the end of the first round as the NHL does.
I hate giving Gary Bettman's bunch credit but re-seeding does benefit the top seed.
For example, sixth-seeded Indiana upset third-seeded Milwaukee in the first round, and yet the Pacers will play the second-seeded New York Knicks (winners over Philadelphia) rather than the top-seeded Celtics (winners over Miami).
So the second seed receives an easier opponent (by record) than the first seed under the current bracket system and while I've never been a Boston fan, it's not fair to them after finishing with the conference's top record.
Donovan Mitchell played exactly as you hope a superstar would in game six of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals and put the team on his back to attempt to carry them forward.
It wasn't enough as Mitchell received no support other than Darius Garland and the Cavaliers lost to the Orlando Magic 103-96 in Orlando.
Mitchell finished with fifty points and Garland added twenty-one with everyone else offering next to nothing.
Game seven will determine which team advances to meet the New York Knicks and will take place in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon at one o'clock.
Swashbucklings
1) Donovan Mitchell gave the Cavaliers exactly what a team expects from a superstar with his fifty-point evening and keeping the Cavaliers in a game that without Mitchell, they would have had no chance of competing.
The fifty-point evening ranks as the second-highest for the Cavaliers in their postseason history.
2) Mitchell left the game briefly in the quarter and you could clearly see that Mitchell is favoring his left knee which has bothered him for much of the season.
One cannot question Donovan Mitchell's heart considering the circumstances under which he is playing but it's not unfair to wonder if Mitchell's knee will be able to keep him in top form for Sunday's game seven.
3) Mitchell and Darius Garland shot often (fifty-three attempts between them) but they had to without any help from the remainder of the lineup as only Max Strus hit double-figures in scoring with a measly ten.
4) Jarrett Allen missed his second straight game with a rib injury and Evan Mobley turned his ankle in the second quarter, which limited his effectiveness (three points, seven rebounds), although he toughed it out for thirty-four minutes.
Cleveland's interior game was non-existent and consisted of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland taking the ball to the hoop.
5) Cleveland is receiving nothing from their bench as J.B. Bickerstaff continues to shuffle in a desperate effort to have any help at all.
Georges Niang hit only one of five shots in eleven minutes, Caris LeVert finished with one point and missed his only attempt, and Isaac Okoro finished with only four points in twenty-four minutes.
All of those players are being paid sizable amounts and aren't producing.
6) The Cavaliers tried to capitalize on the strong game-five outing by Marcus Morris by giving the veteran the start in game six.
Morris scored only two points on one for seven shooting in twenty-seven minutes of playing time although he did grab seven rebounds.
7) Considering the lack of help that Donovan Mitchell received and if the Cavaliers happen to lose game seven, I might think the Cavaliers may have to show Mitchell that they are willing to make changes that could include head coach or trades.
Cleveland's draft material is lacking since they had to trade three first-rounders to land Mitchell, and it might be difficult to land significant improvements to the roster.
A win would solve a lot as the Cavaliers winning a series would be a step forward and would help sell Mitchell that the team is moving forward.
A defeat could be more than just the end of the season.
Donovan Mitchell nailed a three-point shot with thirteen seconds remaining to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a 114-113 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Brooklyn.
Mitchell led Cleveland with 27 points and was aided by Max Strus, who also scored 27 to go with a surprising twelve rebounds.
Cleveland will play Friday night in their home opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Swashbucklings
1) What a debut from Max Strus in his first game with the Cavaliers with a double-double.
Strus hit seven three-pointers in the win from thirteen attempts and Strus was a surprising factor on the boards.
Strus was hoped to have been the key addition in bolstering the outside shooting for the team and he's off to a strong start.
2) Donovan Mitchell's game-winner was clutch as the final of his four three-pointers on the evening but he may have gotten one of those calls that star players get as when he received the pass, Mitchell pushed Cameron Johnson to the floor and allowed himself an uncontested shot.
Still, Johnson may have embellished the push a bit as well.
3) Cleveland also received a strong offensive night from Isaac Okoro, who finished with eighteen points, six rebounds, and four assists.
Okoro hit six of ten shots, two from three-point distance, and while it's asking a lot of Okoro to average that every night, this is a contract year for Okoro as he will be a restricted free agent after the season, so it will be interesting to see how Okoro's numbers play out.
4) It wasn't a great night for the other new acquisitions as Georges Niang missed all three of his shots (all from three) in his twenty minutes of play and Ty Jerome hit his only shot but played only six minutes.
5) Jarrett Allen missed the game with a bone bruise on his ankle.
I've heard some trade whispers about Allen and I wonder what the market is after his poor playoff series against the Knicks.
6) The win was the Cavalier's first in a road opener since 2000.
Twenty-three years and three years before they drafted LeBron James.
I would have thought they would have won one of these with James but apparently not.
7) Some credit to Brooklyn's Cameron Thomas, who came off the bench to light up Cleveland with 36 points in 25 minutes to lead all scorers.
Thomas set a record for points scored by a non-scorer in a season-opener.
Thomas was Brooklyn's first-rounder (27th overall) in 2021. hitting thirteen of twenty-one shots from the floor.
The Cleveland Cavaliers needed a strong game in game four against the New York Knicks in order to even the series.
What they received was an uneven one that allowed the Knicks to hold off a second-half rally and win 102-93 to take a three-to-one lead in the series.
Cleveland will now need to win three remaining games in a row or their season will come to a disappointing end.
Darius Garland led Cleveland with 23 points and ten assists in the defeat.
The series will return home Tuesday for game five.
Swashbucklings
1) Donovan Mitchell is certainly entitled to a poor performance occasionally and sadly, this one came when the Cavaliers needed him most.
Mitchell finished with only eleven points on five of eighteen shooting and missed all of his three-point attempts.
2) Darius Garland scored only two points and at the half, Garland appeared on his way to his second stinker in a row against the Knicks.
And then the second half started and Garland caught fire, scoring the first fourteen points of the half and twenty-two of their first twenty-four.
Cleveland took the leaf for the first time all game after that run but would give it back by the end of the third period, trailing by two before being outscored by seven in the final quarter.
3) A series-long theme continued as the Knicks kicked the Cavaliers around on rebounds, beating them by fourteen overall and by ten on the all-important offensive rebound list.
I'm not sure how Koby Altman will achieve this considering his lack of resources but I'd consider a player that hits the offensive boards hard as an important need for next season.
4) Isaac Okoro did play seventeen minutes as a reserve, scoring nine points on a surprising nine shots in those minutes.
Okoro did connect on four of those but that's pretty high for a player that is often offensively challenged.
5) Cleveland did use veteran Danny Green, who was signed late in the season for his outside shooting and veteran leadership.
Green played four minutes, didn't attempt a shot, and finished without a stat other than a lone personal foul.
6) I'll save the obvious thoughts until the actual end of the series about the season disappointing Cavaliers fans but I will state this- should the series end in five rather than six and end in Cleveland losing two of three home games in front of their fans, the season will be even more disappointing than losing in six games with the season ending in New York.
It may be only for the dreaded "Moral Victory" but young teams doing things for the first time sometimes need a moral victory or two as part of the maturation process.
Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert each poured in forty-one points as the Cleveland Cavaliers worked their way from a double-digit deficit in the second half and dropped the Boston Celtics 132-123 in overtime in Boston.
The Mitchell/LeVert pairing combined 82 points and led the squad with support from Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen each posting a double-double.
Cleveland improved to 4-1 with the victory and will face New York at home on Sunday.
Swashbucklings
1) What a game from Donovan Mitchell, who hit 15 of 25 shots and five three-pointers, and what was very impressive to me was how he impressively drove to the basket.
2) Mitchell's drive by Marcus Smart to slam home a punishing dunk late in the game wasn't only visually impressive, it showed a dimension that last season's Cavaliers lacked (outside of Darius Garland)- An offensive talent that can beat a defender one on one to the basket or make them pay with the jumper should they slack off to play the drive.
3) Caris LeVert has always been a streaky player but he's known for occasionally having those nights when everything is working and everything falls with huge numbers resulting.
On a night without Darius Garland on the road and against a very good Celtic team, LeVert's points with six three-pointers were not only helpful- they were a need.
4) LeVert isn't known for his passing but he did finish with seven assists to lead the team.
5) The double-forties from Mitchell and LeVert was the first time that two Cavaliers had hit the mark in the same game since LeBron James and noted Twitter sensation Kyrie Irving reached the number in game five of the 2016 Finals against the Warriors.
6) Boston led Cleveland by thirteen at the half and lost by nine, so the Cavaliers outscored Boston by twenty-two in the second half and overtime.
7) Isaac Okoro is in someone's doghouse.
Okoro played only seven minutes (scoring two points) after logging only eleven in the Cavalier's previous win over Orlando.
It's not looking good for the former first-rounder.
The rumored suitors for Utah Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell over the last few months were plentiful with the most prominent and likely contender in the New York Knicks supposedly close to a swap until earlier this week, the Knicks puzzled observers with a massive contract extension with R.J. Barrett that seemed to remove them from any hopes of obtaining Mitchell unless Utah had agreed to the extension before a potential trade.
Still, few saw Donovan Mitchell starting the season in October wearing a uniform other than the Utah Jazz or the New York Knicks but he will not be with either team as Koby Altman and the Cleveland Cavaliers swooped in to take advantage of the Knicks poker game with Utah to make the deal for themselves to land the three-time All-Star for their lineup.
The trade bolsters the Cavaliers a great deal and makes them contenders in the Eastern Conference as soon as next season.
Donovan Mitchell averaged just under twenty-six points per game last season in sixty-seven games and turns twenty-six next week along with being under his current contract for the next three years with a player option for a fourth campaign.
Mitchell shoots well (forty-five percent total, thirty-five from three-point range), can handle the ball and create his own shot, and isn't completely offensively devoted to himself as a good passer with over five assists per game last season.
Mitchell's best position is shooting guard and the hope is that Mitchell and Darius Garland can mesh together in the backcourt where Garland and the departed (in this trade) Collin Sexton never did.
Mitchell can play the point, so should a situation such as an injury to Garland occur, Mitchell is more than capable of running the team from the point.
The main deficiency in Mitchell's game is that he is well below average as a defender and while Darius Garland has made some defensive strides, Garland couldn't be considered a strong defender either.
Both Mitchell and Garland are only 6'1 and some of the issues with the backcourt of Garland and Sexton was playing two small guards together as a regular pair and size-wise, the Cavaliers didn't get bigger, so it's reasonable to wonder about the size issue and the defensive problems that are sure to come with a smaller backcourt.
Cleveland will hope that with solid defenders at forward in Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro and a rim protector in Jarrett Allen that with work, tutoring, and trying to funnel opposing offenses towards their waiting their better and larger defenders that they can camouflage some of the defensive weaknesses.
If Garland and Mitchell can improve even a little bit defensively to even a little below average to average, Cleveland should be thrilled with that result.
The cost was high for a player of Mitchell's caliber and Cleveland was willing to pay the tab with a package of Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton (Sexton signed a contract with Cleveland so he could be included in the trade). recent first-round draft pick Ochai Agbaji, unprotected first-round selections in 2025,2027, and 2029 as well as giving the Jazz the option to flip first-rounders with Cleveland in 2026 and 2028.
It is difficult to look at such a package and not think that the cost was prohibitive but the cost of acquiring stars has become more expensive of late compared to the cost that Minnesota paid for Rudy Gobert (Also with Utah, Minnesota trading five players, four first-rounders and one option to swap first rounders for Gobert), Cleveland paid less for a better player.
I liked Lauri Markkanen and trading him away will move the team away from the "Big" lineup that helped the Cavaliers to their success that didn't go by the wayside until injuries at various times to Markkanen, Mobley, and Allen but Cleveland could be on the lookout for a similar player in the next season or and while Markkanen is a nice player, I think he could be replaced fairly easily especially when Cleveland gains cap space after next season when the contracts of Kevin Love and Caris LeVert could (should they decide to move on from both) open up almost forty-eight million dollars on the salary cap.
I was never as big of a fan of Collin Sexton as many Cavaliers fans have been and while I liked his scoring. Sexton was always a high-effort player, Sexton didn't appeal to me as a building block player and made me think of him as a player that would be a sixth or seventh man/instant offense performer on a good team or if you had to rely on him as one of your two top scorers that the odds were that your team wasn't a very good one.
Still, Sexton can score and there is always a spot in the league for a player that has a career scoring average of twenty points a game on the mark.
Ochai Agbaji was the Cavaliers first-round pick from Kansas, who Cleveland hoped could give them some help on the wing with some improved outside shooting but Koby Altman never seemed thrilled with owning a first-rounder after the Cavaliers late-season swoon (had Cleveland made the playoffs, the pick would have been shipped to Indiana as part of the Caris LeVert trade) and Agbaji doesn't appear to have the upside to be more than a situational player, so I don't think Altman was overly concerned about his inclusion in the trade.
I know that three first-rounders sound like a lot to throw in and it is but Cleveland hopes that obtaining Mitchell will make those selections late first-rounders and therefore worth less in moving them along.
My concern there is Cleveland trading so many down the road, especially the 2029 first-rounder which one has no idea what type of pick that could be as it will be used by Utah three years after Donovan Mitchell's current contract expires and he could very well be long gone from Cleveland by then.
I think this trade appears to be a good return for both sides and it is not often that I can say that.
Cleveland brought in a three-time All-Star at only twenty-six and did so without disrupting the three players (Garland, Mobley, and Allen) that are the core of their rebuilding process.
Utah receives two players that can be plugged into their starting lineup in Markkanen and Sexton to either use or showcase to continue to stockpile draft choices, adds essentially another number one in Ochai Agabji to develop, and all of that draft ammunition to either use themselves or move around to help them add other assets.
I do have a few questions mainly about the defensive problems that will have to be worked around with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland playing on the floor at the same time and wondering about how long it will take for Mitchell and Garland to develop the always-talked-about chemistry.
Still, for the various faults that Koby Altman has shown in personnel, one has to give him credit for being willing to take the big swing in making trades and he's taken a big swing with this one.
