There's no talking around it. The Cleveland Cavaliers' game two loss to the Indiana Pacers puts them in a perilous hole entering game three in Indianapolis.
Trying to recover from a one-point loss to fall 0-2 against the Pacers, the Cavaliers are headed to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with the season on the line. While plenty of teams have come back from a 0-2 deficit, only five have done so after starting the series at home. Cleveland's 120-119 loss could be the start of the end of a historic season.
At the end of the first quarter, the Cavs held a 17-point lead despite the absence of Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and De'Andre Hunter. With three major players out, Cleveland was left with few players available who could contribute enough in the playoff atmosphere. Some rose to the occasion, as Donovan Mitchell and Sam Merrill carried the offense. Others fell short, with Ty Jerome shooting 1-of-14 in another underwhelming postseason performance.
Much of Cleveland's turmoil can be attributed to injuries. Garland has missed four straight games, and unnecessarily physical defense from Indiana injured Hunter and Mobley in game one. Though the Cavaliers can point to Indiana's careless defense, especially the willingness to knock players out of the air, the fault still falls on the Cavs to surrender homecourt advantage.
Until the final buzzer sounded, the Cavaliers were in position to win. The Pacers rallied numerous times, but heroics from Mitchell and Co. kept the Cavs' hopes alive. Unfortunately, a constant downfall of the Cavaliers returned in the final minutes.
Defensive rebounding is going to kill the Cavaliers' season
For the majority of the game, the Cavaliers rebounded as well as they could. In the game, the Cavs lost the rebounding by just one, but the final possessions included missed rebounds that ended the night.
Although Cavaliers fans will point to the clear lane violation from the Pacers, Aaron Nesmith sailed through the paint to get a putback dunk after Pascal Siakam missed two clutch free throws. The violation aside, Cleveland can only blame themselves for the putback. Mitchell allowed Nesmith to run past him, and Jarrett Allen never jumped to grab the board. Allen had his assignment boxed out, but he showed no rush to grab the ball.
On the final play of the game, Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton headed to the free throw line. He missed his second free throw. Again, Allen guarded his assignment. The ball fell to him, and as he grabbed it, Mitchell flew in and tipped it away from his own teammates back into the hands of Haliburton. From there, Haliburton etched his spot in Cleveland sports history as a villain to hit a dagger three to take the one-point lead with 1.1 seconds left in regulation.
It seems that if the Cavaliers are going to lose a game they should win, it will happen because of rebounding and bad communication on the boards. For the third consecutive postseason, the Cavs face a tumultuous uphill battle to survive for this same reason. Against the Orlando Magic last year, Cleveland scraped by in game seven with an 18-point comeback in the second half. In a round against a more formidable opponent, the Cavs will never be as lucky.
The answer is not simple, but it is not to tear down and trade everybody. The Cleveland Cavaliers are still a young team who has faced untimely injuries in the postseason. Rebounding has suffocated their playoff runs time and time again. With injuries adding to that struggle, the Cavs have everything against them to make a comeback in this series. For a city known for a 3-1 comeback in 2016, nothing is impossible.