There are plenty of losers to pick from for the Cavs, who failed to show up in their biggest game of the season.
With their season essentially on the line, the Cleveland Cavaliers imploded in Indiana and were dismantled by the Pacers 129-109. The 20-point loss looks a lot better than what actually happened, which was a 41-point halftime deficit coupled with some of the worst offense any team has displayed on an NBA court this season.
There were winners and losers, and a lot of the latter for the Cavs, who now trail 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Winners
The Naysayers
There were a lot of people, both locally and in the national landscape, who were hesitant to pick the Cavs to make it to the NBA Finals. But even the naysayers felt they had a very good chance to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals (ESPN’s entire panel of voters picked the Cavs to beat the Pacers).
But, barring a miraculous comeback, that seems all but impossible. The doubters of the Cavs and their ability to level up in the spotlight are likely going to be proven correct. Since Game 1, the Cavs have looked like a team that did not belong running with the big horses. The showing in Game 4 cannot be described as anything but a complete mental collapse, one that actually seems far worse than anything that happened in the last two playoff runs.
In 2023, the Cavs had the excuse of youth on their side. In 2024, they scraped by the Orlando Magic, but were also pretty injured. Sweeping the Miami Heat is the bare minimum for a team this talented, but the way the Cavs have lost in the second round is nothing short of disastrous. It’s one thing to lose close games and play hard, but it’s an entirely different one to get whipped the way they did in Game 4.
J.B. Bickerstaff
The Cavs fired J.B. Bickerstaff last May after falling to the Boston Celtics in the second round, winning one game in that series. Kenny Atkinson and some internal growth increased the regular season win total by 16, but the Cavs are on pace to win the exact same number of playoff games they totaled a year ago — five.
It’s not debatable if the Cavs made the right decision in letting Bickerstaff go, evidenced by the regular season improvements. But it is even clearer now that the real problems reside with the roster, not the coaching staff. Atkinson has evolved the Cavs to be a better regular-season team, but those tactics that got them to 64 wins do not translate cleanly to a playoff series.
The Cavs responded in Game 4 with the same level of apathy they showed under Bickerstaff toward the end of his tenure. There won’t be a coaching scapegoat this time around.
Losers
The Cavs
A 41-point halftime deficit felt even bigger than it was, as the Cavs displayed absolutely no resistance to the Pacers. Cleveland got walked over, and everyone, top to bottom, has a stake in the failure.
The Cavs may have a noted history of coming back from a 3-1 deficit, but actual NBA history paints a much more grim picture. Nine teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit, while the other 203 instances of that have resulted in a lost series.
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are not walking through that door to help make it happen this time either.
The Entire Cavs’ Backcourt
Darius Garland led the Cavs with 21 points, but more than half of those came with the game well out of reach. Donovan Mitchell had the third-most points on the team and he did not even play in the second half due to an ankle injury. Ty Jerome was slightly better, but it was far too late to make an impact.
Mitchell has done his part to help the Cavs win games this series, so he gets some credit. Jerome has come back to earth, looking more like the journeyman guard he was a few years ago than the Sixth-Man of the Year candidate he has been this season. Garland is, once again, in the playoffs, not nearly as good as he was in the regular season.
The questions of the backcourt’s ability to work together in high-leverage situations will inevitably be brought up again this offseason. Jerome’s new contract may be shrinking by the million with every poor playoff performance. A truly gross situation is headed for the Cavs this offseason as they look to pick up the pieces from another disappointing playoffs.
Mitchell did not play in the second half of Game 4 due to what the team called an ankle injury. He was not seen walking out of the arena in a boot, so it is entirely within reason that the Cavs opted to rest him for the actual do-or-die Game 5. He earned that rest, given how hard he has had to play to simply keep the Cavs afloat.
Jarrett Allen
What happened to the Cavs’ unsung regular-season hero? Allen had just two points, both free throws, two rebounds, and one block in 20 minutes of court time in Game 4. He was a non-factor for essentially the entire night. Even for the series, Allen has nine turnovers in the last three games after averaging one per game in the regular season.
Allen’s disappearance against the stout Indiana frontcourt of Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam, both of whom have torched the Cavs in their wins, is disappointing. But Allen’s poor play is a symptom of a much more alarming team-wide disease.
Toughness
Based on the first quarter, one would have thought that the Cavs were about to finally have the fire lit underneath them. After the scuffle between Pacers wing Benedict Mathurin and Cavs forward De’Andre Hunter (which led to Mathurin getting ejected), it would be a fair assumption to say the Cavs were going to use that as fuel to pull out a gritty win.
But the Cavs did not play with any energy after that. Grittiness is not in their vocabulary. Instead of using their key bench advantage to pull out a win, they rolled over and actually played worse. They displayed no mental fortitude and ability to dig deep and do what they needed to: bring the series back to Cleveland tied 2-2.