NBA analysts point to Donovan Mitchell’s worrying streak in his playoff career.
The Cleveland Cavaliers had a historic run as they won the No. 1 seed at the Eastern Conference during the 2024-25 NBA season.
As many people expected, the Cavs had no issues dealing with the Miami Heat in the opening round of the 2025 NBA playoffs.
However, there was a complete contrast to the Cavaliers’ performance in the second round against the Indiana Pacers.
Franchise face Donovan Mitchell received a major flack due to the Cavaliers’ 4-1 series defeat of the Pacers.
Former NBA player Kendrick Perkins said Mitchell failed as leader due to the Cavaliers’ embarrassing performance in the second round.
“The Donovan Mitchell-led team has never been to the conference finals. I don’t care how they slice it, but this season is a complete Cavs failure,” Perkins tweeted.
Mitchell never missed the playoffs throughout his career, but despite the quality roster being built around him, he has barely managed to achieve success.
This was Mitchell’s eighth postseason run, but once again the six times the NBA All-Stars can’t compete in the conference finals.
As for his numbers, he averaged 29.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in the postseason, but 44.3% shooting from the field and 33.3% shooting from the deep made the Cavs rarely win the game.
When the Cavs went down 3-1, team owner Dan Gilbert urged the organization to remove Lebron James’ Heroics from 2016.
Instead, the Cavaliers suffered a 114-105 loss in the season. Following the early exit, Gilbert spoke to the fans via the official X-handle.
“Cavs fans, I know it’s heartbreaking, but the good news is that there are young cores with talent to learn and get better from now on.
“It’s not how that ends, but I promise to do everything humanly possible to deal with what needs to be fixed and finished next year in a much better place,” tweeted Gilbert.
It will be interesting to see if Gilbert and the front office make some changes to the roster on the second exit in a row.