Donovan Mitchell laid it all on the court for the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2. Unfortunately, he also had a hand in securing their defeat.
The Cavaliers were fighting an uphill battle against the Indiana Pacers before the ball was ever tipped. Three key players, including two of the team's All-Stars, missed the game due to injury. Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and De'Andre Hunter were all sitting on the bench in street clothes for a must-win Game 2.
To their credit, the Cavs came out fighting. They hit shot after shot to build an early lead, then maintained it for nearly the entire night. Donovan Mitchell was resplendent, attacking again and again and drawing an eye-popping 21 free-throw attempts.
Mitchell's 3-point shot continues to be MIA, as his 1-for-7 shooting night in Game 2 puts him at 2-for-18 from long-range for the series. In every other way, however, he was everything the Cavaliers needed on offense as they tried to win without three of their very best players. What's more, he was much more active on defese than in Game 1, including stealing the ball four times.
In the fourth quarter, the game suddenly began to turn. The Pacers chipped away, making a push specifically when Mitchell was off the court. Ty Jerome shot 1-for-14 for the night and Max Strus was 8-for-18, and the volume of missed shots weighed them down enough for Indiana to make a run.
Haliburton and Mitchell go nuclear
A series of unlikely and shocking events led to the final few seconds of the game. Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton stepped up to the line for his second free throw, with Indiana down by two points and just 12 seconds on the clock. He missed the free-throw, with the ball clanging up in the air as the two teams collided into the paint to fight for the rebound.
In Game 1, Myles Turner secured a number of key rebounds late in the game to prevent a Cleveland comeback. This time, Jarrett Allen boxed Turner out and leapt into the air to pull down the rebound. If Allen secures the ball and is fouled, he has a chance to put the Cavaliers up four with aroudn 10 seconds left and Indiana without any timeouts.
Instead, Donovan Mitchell comes sprinting into the paint, executing a curl route around Turner and Allen to put himself in position to after the rebound. He leaps into the air and gets a hand on the ball, just enough to knock it out of Allen's hands and right into the hands of Tyrese Haliburton.
If Mitchell merely focuses on pinching Myles Turner, Allen almost certainly gets the rebound. If he floats into the lane and does nothing, Allen almost certainly gets the rebound. But if Mitchell pushes his way to the front and tips the ball away there is nothing Allen can do.
That is what happened in Game 2 on Tuesday night. The Cleveland Cavaliers had a chance to secure the win, but instead Donovan Mitchell tipped the ball to the opposing team. That moment will be replayed again and again and may even come up in his biography.
Mitchell was phenomenal in Game 2. He will likely need to be in Game 3 for Cleveland to have a shot. This organization is desperately hopeful for some injured players to return.
Yet at the very end, on a play so magnificent millions of people are watching it on replay, he hustled his way to a gigantic failure. That has to sting for Donovan Mitchell.