Not Donovan Mitchell Injury, but Bigger Issue Troubles Cavs After Game 4 Blowout vs Pacers

The box score says Donovan Mitchell exited Game 4 with an ankle injury. The highlight reel says Indiana poured in 80 first-half points, stormed into halftime with a 41-point lead, and never looked back. But the real story—the one now haunting the Cleveland Cavaliers as they teeter on the edge of elimination—is neither statistical nor medical. It’s psychological.

By the time halftime arrived, the Pacers had a 41-point lead. Read that again. Forty-one points. It was the single largest halftime lead in NBA playoff history for the Indiana franchise, and a complete exposure of Cleveland’s fragile playoff psyche. The Cavaliers trailed 80-39 after two quarters. They shot 8-of-32. They turned the ball over 14 times. They gave up a mind-bending 25 assists in a single half. All of it unfolded like a team trying to survive, not one playing to win.

The Mitchell injury? No doubt it’s a concern. He exited after the first half with what was later described as a left ankle injury and is set to undergo an MRI. But let’s be honest: Mitchell played in the half they got buried. That speaks volumes.

“The bigger concern is the psyche of the Cavs. If you’re a great team, not that you can win a series necessarily without Donovan Mitchell, but whether or not he goes, if you play the way they played tonight, it’s not going to matter,” said one broadcaster post-game. That sentiment is hard to refute. The Cavs weren’t out-shot or out-schemed; they were out-willed.

(This is a developing story)

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