From 4-0 to 0-5, the favorites in the championship were upset one after another! The boss scored 48 points and was still questioned, you are going to be swept

On May 7, the eastern and western semi-finals of the NBA playoffs continued. In a just-concluded duel, the Pacers defeated the Cavaliers with Halliburton's 3 points. In this game, the Cavaliers' three core cores were absent, but Mitchell took a big shot at one person on the offensive end and scored 48 points and led the team to establish a 20-point lead. However, the Pacers sounded the horn of counterattack in the last quarter, and Blair was With the deep rotation system, the Pacers still maintained enough physical fitness in the final quarter. In the end, the Pacers defeated the Cavaliers again 120-119 away and took the lead 2-0. Next, the Pacers will return to home court. As long as they win a victory, they will win the match point of the series, while the Cavaliers are in desperate situation. Today, Mitchell fought with his legs. If the core players do not return, they will be eliminated in a surprise.

As the first record in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Heat 4-0 with a slap in the first round, with a net victory of 122 points and a decisive record, but fell into a desperate situation in the division semi-finals. He lost 9 points at home to the Indiana Pacers in the first game, and was defeated by Halliburton in the second game. Including the regular season record of 1 win and 3 losses, the Cavaliers have encountered an embarrassing situation of 1 win and 5 losses in the face of the Pacers this season. This team, whose probability of winning the championship was predicted by US media BR, was 16.1% (second in the league, second only to the Thunder), was completely "smacked back to its original form" by the Pacers.

The Cavaliers' sweep of the Heat in the first round seems strong, but in fact they have hidden dangers. The Heat's regular season record is tenth in the Eastern Conference. After the core Butler left, the team's overall offensive and defensive system collapsed, and the Cavaliers' victory was more like a "dish-abuse" performance. Data shows that when Mitchell and Garland were on the court at the same time, the Cavaliers lost 1.0 points per 100 rounds. After Garland was absent due to a toe injury, substitute point guard Merrill also completely exposed his offensive and defensive shortcomings in the semi-finals. G1 starts 2 of 5 and scored 6 points, and G2 fight Jerome replaced Merrill. Unexpectedly, Jerold was even more burdened by the offensive end, making 1 of 14 shots in the game, only 2 points. Ironically, behind the Cavaliers' first-round net win of 122 points, the team's mediocre performance of only 31.7% of three-point shooting percentage - this data further plummeted to 26% when facing the Pacers (9 of 38 in G1 three-pointers, 11 in G2 39 in G2), while the opponent smashed the Cavaliers' defense with a terrifying efficiency of 52.8%.

Pacers' tactical targeting are textbooks: use Halliburton's pick-and-roll instigation ability, and use the outside projection ability of Sika and Turner and other forwards to open up space, forcing the Cavaliers' double tower Allen and Mobley away from the penalty area. When the Cavaliers tried to shrink their defense, the Pacers' three-point firepower instantly covered the half-field, forming a chain reaction of "three-point rainstorm". In contrast, except for the double towers, other players have obvious average height disadvantages, and their outside defense rotates slowly, and they often miss out on open opportunities. This structural flaw has been captured by the Pacers in the regular season (the only win in the regular season coincided with Halliburton absent), and it was infinitely magnified in the playoffs of high-intensity confrontation. In addition, the Pacers have many soldiers and wide players, and Blair will be very deep in rotation. The first three quarters will be consumed, and the core lineup will be harvested in the last quarter.

As the nominal leader of the Cavaliers, Mitchell's playoff performance once again aroused doubts. Although he dared to take responsibility on the offensive end, he even blossomed himself without any scruples in the G2 game, attacking the basket many times, fighting until his legs cramped, but the shooting percentage outside the three-point line has always been a huge drag. In G1, he made only 1 of 11 three-pointers, 1 of 7 in G2, and 2 of 18 from the outside in two games. In addition, although he averaged 36.3 points per game in a single-round series (2020 Jazz vs. Nuggets), his career has never broken through the ceiling of the divisional semi-finals, and his key battles have been lost: when he was eliminated by the Rockets in the first round of 2018, facing Paul and Gordon's defense, his shooting percentage fell to 32.1% + 25.6%; when he "badged" the Heat in the first round of this season, his real shooting percentage was only 55.8%, far lower than the level of top scorers. The deeper problem is that Mitchell's playing style is fundamentally in conflict with the team system. He relies on a large number of singles with the ball, and his career assist rate is only 24.3%, and he is unable to effectively connect his teammates. The defensive end requires the team to assist in defense protection due to his height disadvantage (1.85 meters), which leads to a lot of loopholes in the defensive chain. What's even more fatal is that when Garland returns, the defensive flaws of the Cavaliers' double-short combination (Mitchell + Garland) will be further aggravated - data shows that when the two are on the court at the same time, the team's defensive efficiency plummeted to the league's countdown. This "offense depends on feel and defense depends on teammates" model is destined to be difficult to go far in high-intensity confrontation in the playoffs.

is in sharp contrast to the Cavaliers' struggles, and the Pacers show a true philosophy of team basketball. The foundation of the team in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, coupled with Halliburton's evolution (the league's first in the playoffs this season, averaged 12.8 assists per game), made their offense like mercury. The team's six players averaged more than 10 points per game, with 113.9 points per game, ranking first in the playoffs, and their defensive efficiency has improved compared to last season. Sika's addition further complements the forward's hard-resolving ability. His misplaced singles success rate against Allen and Mobley exceeded 60%, completely shattering the Cavaliers' defensive layout. It is worth mentioning that the success of the Walker is not accidental. The management has precisely strengthened the transaction in the past two years: Sika has improved the strength of the forward line, fully tapped the shooting player's optimization space, and retained defensive players such as Turner and Nesmith. This "balanced offense and defense, blooming multiple points" team building idea just restrains the Cavaliers' weakness of relying on singles for stars and having a top-heavy lineup.

It is worth mentioning that before the series begins, the "BR" model gives the Cavaliers a 74.4% chance of promotion, but the disadvantages at the reality level are difficult to bridge with data.. If the Cavaliers want to reverse the series, they need to solve three major problems: First, Mitchell must improve the outside shooting efficiency and at least pull back to more than 58%; Second, after Garland returns, he needs to sacrifice his ball rights and transform into an unball shooter to avoid defensive loopholes; Third, use Hunter, Ocorro and other wings to increase the intensity of the outside defense. However, these adjustments may not be realistic. Garland still shows no sign of a comeback, and Hunter, Mobley and Mitchell are all injured.

It has to be said that in the modern basketball system where "space is first and speed wins", the lineup that relies on traditional double towers (Allen + Mobley) and short guards has become outdated. If the semi-finals are stopped this season again, the management may face a reconstruction choice: Should we continue to strengthen the 26-year-old Mitchell, or trade it for young assets and draft picks? The answer may have been looming in the sighs of fans. When Halliburton tear the defense with a precise pass, when Sika dominated the front line with an all-rounder, Turner's style inside and outside made Allen hesitate, the Cavaliers were still lost in Mitchell's solo fight. Perhaps as the US media said: "The glory of the regular season is just an illusion, and the blades of the playoffs can test the real gold." This overrated favorite is standing on the edge of the cliff, and what pushes them down is exactly the weakness that they have never faced