CLEVELAND, Ohio — Donovan Mitchell wakes up every day with one thought:
Winning an NBA championship.
His quest continues Sunday evening, with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the high-powered Indiana Pacers.
“This is not my first time in the second round. It’s not my first time being the one seed. Fortunate enough to have another crack at it,” Mitchell said following practice earlier this week. “That’s why we play this game. We don’t play to have a 64-win season and be happy. We play to win the championship. That’s the goal. That’s what is fueling me.”
The first step is getting out of Round Two, something Mitchell has never done — a reputation starting to follow him like a haunting, diabolical shadow.
The Pacers have. Last year.
After dispatching rival Milwaukee and then outlasting New York, Indiana’s run toward the East throne was halted by eventual champion Boston in four games, three of which were decided by five points or less.
That should tell Mitchell — and the Cavs — everything they need to know about their semifinal opponent.
This is a good team, a deep one, fast and skilled, with battle-tested personnel capable of providing stylistic complications and keeping Mitchell from reaching the conference finals — again.
With NBA champion Rick Carlisle, the Pacers also have a proven chess master who has an uncanny knack for making shrewd tactical adjustments that swing a series, just as he has done in the past.
And unlike Cleveland’s previous playoff opponent — the woefully overmatched Miami Heat — Carlise isn’t stuck with a plethora of pawns on his board.
Those pieces start with two-time All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton — the masterful conductor of Indiana’s second-ranked postseason offense, which finished No. 1 in the playoffs last year.
Apart from a funky-looking jumper and some obvious defensive deficiencies, Haliburton is one of the NBA’s most adept maestros. Players characterizing him as “overrated” in an anonymous poll from the Athletic speaks to a combination of lunacy, jealousy, and perhaps, pure dislike because of his incessant mouthiness.
Haliburton dictates pace and tempo brilliantly. He elevates teammates. He rarely makes mistakes. He finished near the top of the NBA in almost every alphabet-soup category designed to measure impact and value — Player Efficiency Rating (PER), Win Shares, Box Plus-Minus (BPM), Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) and Estimated Real Plus-Minus (EPM).
“I know this coach does not underrate him,” Cavs’ Kenny Atkinson said. “In no sense, in no terms. I think he’s one of the hardest covers. He can score and then he’s a lead passer. It reminds me of the LeBrons of the world, the James Hardens of the world, they can just fire passes on a dart to any spot on the court and they’re big. They must not be watching the same film I’m watching. I think he’s elite.”
Pascal Siakam is a three-time All-Star and Indiana’s leading scorer — a matchup nightmare with the ability to score at all three levels, punish switches, beat defenders off the dribble and repeatedly win in isolation. Sure is nice to have the Defensive Player of the Year (Evan Mobley) as a potential neutralizer.
Young guard Andrew Nembhard is a reliable secondary creator and big-shot maker who tallied at least 20 points four times during Indiana’s conference finals run last spring. He is also one of the league’s peskiest defenders, primed to bother a less-than-100-percent Darius Garland who is still dealing with a sprained big toe on his left foot that could plague him throughout the remainder of the playoffs.
Center Myles Turner can pull Cleveland’s bigs away from the rim with his deft 3-point shooting, one of seven Pacers averaging double figures in the postseason.
Swingman Aaron Nesmith — who reached the double-digit scoring mark in four of five games — has the size, strength, athleticism and defensive chops to, at the very least, make Mitchell work in a way the Heat couldn’t.
TJ McConnell is a defensive irritant and second unit stabilizer, another guard to pressure Cleveland’s dynamic backcourt. Former first-round pick Obi Toppin can provide a scoring punch off the bench. Bennedict Mathurin erupted for 19 points in an earlier meeting against Cleveland.
Shooting. Skill. Depth. Balance. Versatility. Flexibility. Offensive potency.
Sound familiar? Get out that social media Spider-Man meme with the superheroes pointing at each other.
There are stylistic and roster composition similarities between these central division rivals. They’ve had a similar record since January — Indiana went 34-14 while Cleveland was 35-14. They are two of the league’s best fourth-quarter teams. They can both play 5-out.
Indiana is faster and more experienced. It has collectively been further in the playoffs.
But the Cavs are … better.
On offense and defense.
Indiana’s weakness (halfcourt defense) is Cleveland’s strength (halfcourt offense). And the top-seeded Cavs have the best player. Over the course of a seven-game series, those realities will play out.
Mitchell is the difference. He must be. He will be. It’s finally his time.
Cavs in 6.