The pressure is now mounting on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.
In just a blink of an eye, the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ impressive season is now on the brink of an unfortunate end.
Health has been a major disadvantage for the Cavaliers right now, with three key players missing their latest defeat.
Darius Garland continues to nurse his toe complications since the opening round with the Miami Heat.
Meanwhile, Evan Mobley (ankle) and De’Andre Hunter (wrist) sustained injuries in Game 1 of their West Semis matchup against the Indiana Pacers which left head coach Kenny Atkinson fuming.
As a result the Cavs find themselves on a problematic spot as they failed to defend their homecourt and down 0-2, losing Game 2 in a crushing fashion out of Tyrese Haliburton’s game-winning three.
Photo by Jason Miller/Getty ImagesChanning Frye calls out Jarrett Allen
With Garland, Mobley, and Hunter out of the court, Donovan Mitchell has a heavy load to carry as he leads Cleveland.
After making history in the series opener as he tied Michael Jordan with a special postseason feat, the Cavaliers superstar even followed it up with a 48-point Game 2 explosion.
Yet ultimately, his marvelous heroics weren’t enough. And this is even more troubling due to the fact that Mitchell himself also admitted that he’s dealing with a key injury of his own.
A Game 2 win would have been proper for Mitchell’s efforts to get paid off. Yet in the end, they crumbled during the crunch time and endured a 120-119 defeat.
For Channing Frye, the Cavaliers could have been in a much better position right now if Jarrett Allen emerged down the stretch against the Pacers.
“I feel Jarrett Allen disappears at the end of games,” the former NBA veteran said on the Road Trippin’ podcast.
“Jarrett Allen has been an All-Star before, whether it’s a block, a rebound, something, I just feel like I don’t see him at the end of games, where I see Mitchell Robinson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Myles Turner, Pascal Siakam,”
“Whether it’s a tip out or a block, some type of play where I don’t need you to score, because obviously it’s going to Donovan Mitchell or Tyrese Haliburton, last night I saw Myles Turner contesting at the rim, he hit a big three… he did something where I went ‘Ooh.’
“He’s still active, I just don’t know if I’ve seen that from Cleveland’s big other than Evan Mobley.”
Allen is doing everything he can to help the Cavaliers
As Mitchell’s co-star remaining out there, Jarrett Allen contributed for the Cavs in Game 2, finishing with 22 points, 12 boards, three assists, and three blocks in 38 minutes, shooting 7-of-9 from the field.
Without his frontcourt partner in Mobley, Allen was forced to singlehandedly anchor the Cavaliers’ interior.
But when Indiana hurled a successful late-game attack, the star big man had hardships in juggling the role of defending the rim and guarding his main assignments in both Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner.
Atkinson already challenged Allen to take the “hardest thing” before the series began against the Pacers with an increased workload, and it seems that the center is just completely being overwhelmed.
The message is clear that rest of the Cavaliers need to step up in order to get themselves on the board in this second round against the Pacers, to provide extra help to Mitchell.
Ty Jerome particularly struggled in Game 2. After a 21-point Game 1 play, he just finished with an awful two points in 1-of-14 shooting across 28 minutes in Game 2 loss.
It remains to be seen if Garland, Mobley, and Hunter will be ready to go for Game 3 on May 9, but Cleveland clearly need all hands on deck to keep their title hopes alive.