CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell did everything he physically could to try to get the Cleveland Cavaliers back on equal footing in their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Indiana Pacers.
It wasn't enough, though.
Now, the Cavaliers face their most daunting task of the season — down two games, having to go on the road and being shorthanded.
“We've got to go get two in Indy. Simple as that,” Mitchell said after scoring 48 points in Cleveland's 120-119 loss to Indiana on Tuesday night.
The top-seeded Cavaliers entered the game without three key players, including two starters. NBA Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley (left ankle) was injured in Game 1, while Darius Garland (left big toe) missed his fourth straight postseason game. De’Andre Hunter (right thumb) was also injured Sunday night.
TNT reported during the game that Mitchell was also hampered by a calf strain, but that was not listed on the NBA's injury report. He also started cramping late in the game as Indiana rallied from a 119-112 deficit with eight straight points in the final 47.9 seconds.
“I’m banged up, we all are. It’s tough, but that’s what the playoffs are,” said Mitchell, who had the second-most points in a playoff game at Cleveland's Rocket Arena.
Mitchell played 36 minutes, went 15 of 30 from the field and tied a playoff career high with 17 made free throws. He also had nine assists that resulted in 24 Cleveland points. Six of the assists came on 3-pointers, including one to Max Strus to give the Cavs a 117-110 advantage with 1:06 remaining.
Cleveland did not have enough at the end.
Mitchell committed an offensive foul with 45.9 seconds remaining, leading to Pascal Siakam's layup to bring them within 119-116.
Mitchell then couldn't get a rebound after Tyrese Haliburton missed a free throw with the Cavs leading by two. Haliburton got the loose ball and hit a step-back 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to give the Pacers the victory.
“I should have grabbed the ball. I was right there. That's on me,” Mitchell said. “On the charge call, I tried to be strong with the ball. I knew they were going to trap. I understood it was coming, but the elbow was too high.”
Cleveland led most of the game despite going with a shorter rotation of nine players. Defensively, they did a better job of dealing with Indiana's quick pace until the end.
“I thought we outplayed them, that’s the shame of this game,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We had some poor decision-making plays at the rim, turnovers. A couple bad decisions, I felt like. So that was part of the collapse.”
The Cavaliers are hoping to possibly get Mobley, Garland or Hunter back for Game 3 in Indiana on Friday night. If not, Mitchell has faith his shorthanded group can find a way to make it a series.
Cleveland has rallied from a 2-0 series deficit three times previously — the 2007 Eastern Conference finals against Detroit, the 2016 NBA Finals against Golden State and 2018 Eastern Conference finals against Boston.
“We’ve shown how deep we are as a team, how great we are as a unit. It’s tough losing like that, but we got to find a way,” Mitchell said. “We can sit here and dwell on this and be home in about four or five days, or we can move on and take some things that we did really well and go from there.
"We’ve got to go out there and take care of business. Otherwise, that’s it.”
Jarrett Allen — who had 22 points and 12 rebounds — said Mitchell's performance made him realize he has to try harder as well.
“You can’t let one guy, especially your leader, go into something alone like that and give it his all," Allen said. "It pushes everybody on the bench to try their hardest and try to replicate that.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Joe Reedy, The Associated Press
