Donovan Mitchell understood the assignment. With Darius Garland (toe), Evan Mobley (ankle) and De’Andre Hunter (thumb) all out for Game 2 Tuesday night, and the Cavaliers down 0-1 and desperately needing a win, it all fell to Mitchell — and he dropped 48 points. Behind Mitchell, the Cavaliers led by as many as 20 a couple of times, including midway through the third quarter.
However, scoring is only half the game.
Cleveland could not get a stop when it mattered, giving up 36 points in the fourth quarter. Despite that, the Cavaliers led by seven with 48 seconds left — and gave up an 8-0 run, capped off by Tyrese Haliburton getting the offensive rebound on his own missed free throw, stepping back and hitting the game-winning 3-pointer.
Indiana comes all the way back to get the win on the road, 120-119, and now leads the series 2-0 heading home. The Pacers are in total control of this series, especially if the Cavaliers can’t get healthy fast.
This win had echoes of the Pacers’ comeback and win in Game 5 to close out the Bucks.
“Obviously, we got lucky. Ty hit another amazing shot to win the game,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “You don’t see this very often, let alone twice in one week. Tyrese, he came through again. We’re very fortunate.”
The Pacers came out of the locker room lacking the defensive pressure or urgency seen in Game 1, and that had Mitchell and the Cavaliers racing out to a 32-15 lead after one quarter. Indiana also could not buy a bucket.
Bennedict Mathurin’s play in the second half helped the tide for the Pacers, as he scored 19 points off the bench for Indiana. For the game Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith led the way with 23 points each, while Haliburton finished with 19 points and nine assists.
As much as the Pacers played great late, the Cavaliers faded.
“I feel like we outplayed them for the majority of the game and then towards the end we had our mental lapses. They capitalize on every single mistake that we made,” said Jarrett Allen, who had an impressive game with Mobley out playing elite defense, scoring a 22 with 12 rebounds.
By the end, Mitchell looked worn down from carrying the offensive load and shot 2-of-6 in the fourth quarter (but got to the line for eight free throws. With no other point guard to turn to, the Cavaliers had trouble getting the ball over the half-court line or inbounding it against the Pacers’ pressure. In the face of Indy’s defense, Cavaliers not named Donovan shot 3-of-12 in the fourth quarter. Through two games in this series, Ty Jerome is 1-of-14 — Cleveland needs better from all its guys.
However, what they really need is for Garland and Mobley to be healthy by Game 3, or this series will be all but over.
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