CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – And just like that, the immaculate vibes of a 64-win season disappeared as fast for the Cavs as one of their leads in this series.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points to go with six rebounds and eight assists while Pascal Siakam added 21, eight rebounds and five assists to fuel the Pacers 114-105 victory at Rocket Arena to eliminate Cleveland with a 4-1 series win and return to the Eastern Conference Finals for a second straight season.
“They wore us down,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They have a particular style they play. They definitely make you play more on one-on-one. They don't let you get into your drive kick swing. They stay at home on drives because their ability to guard, and we've seen this with a couple other teams, elite teams.”
Here’s the top Wine & Gold nuggets from Game 5.
Blown opportunities – The Cavs led Game 2 by 20 points, seven with a minute to play, and lost. They led by as many as 19 Tuesday night and lost Game 5. “Just couldn't believe it,” Donovan Mitchell, who led the Cavs with 35 points and sat on the bench alone after the game, said. “Didn't want to believe it. Don't want to believe it. Still don't want to believe it.”
Third time not the charm – This makes the third consecutive year the Cavs were dominated in the playoffs. They lost in the first round in five games to the Knicks in 2023, six games in the conference semifinals to the Celtics last year and now another five game exit in 2025. “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. “So no, there's no moral victories here and we just didn't get the job done.”
Banged up – Mitchell played through calf and ankle injuries. De’Andre Hunter a dislocated thumb and Evan Mobley an ankle injury. “Everyone gets hurt,” Mobley said. “You just got to find a way to win certain games that you're supposed to win. You got to win. You look back to game two when you're up 20. You got to just finish games out and the series just looks a lot different.” Atkinson refused to lean on injuries as an excuse for what is a colossal failure being eliminated in five games and not getting to the conference finals. “We had some misfortune with a couple injuries, so that was unfortunate, but I still felt like we had enough,” Atkinson said.
Maximize Mobley – For the Cavs to take that next step they need to get even more out of Mobley. He should be the centerpiece going forward complimented by Mitchell and the rest of the supporting cast. Mobley, despite being hobbled with an ankle injury that sidelined him in the series, scored 24 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. “Offensively, especially the three ball definitely improved there. And then offensively just getting to my spots and I knocking my shots down, but I'm going to go back to the drawing board this off season the same thing again and make another big jump offensively as well.
Long offseason – A long offseason awaits for the Cavs which is likely to be filled with a lot of criticism. “Getting beat down like this and y'all are going to write some s*** about us man,” Mitchell said. “And that's going to be fuel. Fuel for everybody. Y'all going to say a lot of s***. Y'all are. And that's what it takes. I've been here so I understand. We understand. And now we just got to use it as fuel for next year.” There is very little flexibility due to the salary cap apron rules for the Cavs so they are likely to run it back, again. “I’d go to bat for every guy in that locker room,” Mitchell said. “I’m willing to die out there for those guys… We have a window with this group. I believe in everybody in here. We believe in each other and that's what sucks, man. It's just we're a good team and for five, four games, three games, we didn't show what we're capable of. And ultimately that's what we're judged on. So get in the gym, weight room, nutrition, whatever the hell it is and get back at it because y'all going to write us the f*** off, man. But we'll be back.”
Shake it up – Prior to the game, Atkinson indicated he might tighten or shake up the rotation. Ty Jerome stayed on the bench while Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade got those minutes in the first half. In the third quarter, Jerome came on and quicky hit a pair of 3s and he finished with eight points in 11 minutes.
Sword pull – Former Brown s receiver and returner Josh Cribbs pulled the sword prior to the Cavs player introductions.
Starting 5 – Atkinson started Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Max Strus, and Jarrett Allen.