Donovan Mitchell, Cavs
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Max Strus sent a group text message to motivate his teammates. Then he went scoreless as the Cavaliers lost Game 5.
2don MSN
This year was supposed to be different. It wasn’t. The top-seeded Cavs were eliminated from the playoffs in the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second straight season. This time, by the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers in a 114-105 Game 5 loss.
Indiana solved the zone defense that perplexed it in Game 3, taking a 41-point halftime lead and putting Cleveland on ice.
The Cavs are down 3-1 and battling injuries, but Darius Garland’s belief in a comeback is keeping hope alive in Cleveland.
The Cavs were expected to push past the Pacers, a team they seemed more talented than heading into the series, but find themselves on the brink of elimination.
The Indiana Pacers emphatically pushed the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers to the brink of playoff elimination with a dominant 129-109 win to take a 3-1 series lead.