Donovan Mitchell, ex-Louisville basketball star, has night to remember vs Indiana Pacers
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The Cleveland Cavaliers' loss to the Indiana Pacers on May 6 wasn't for lack of effort on Donovan Mitchell's part.
Despite playing through a calf strain, according to The Athletic, the former Louisville men's basketball guard had 48 points, nine assists and five rebounds in the 120-119 defeat. With the loss, the Cavs dropped to 0-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinal series. Mitchell scored 21 points and contributed to 15 more points via assists to help the Cavs to a 61-50 lead at halftime.
After his 33-point series opener against the Pacers, Mitchell joined LeBron James as the only two Cavaliers with at least three 30-plus-point games in the first five games of the postseason.
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Cleveland and Indiana are set for Game 3 of the series at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Indianapolis.
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: NBA playoffs 2025: Donovan Mitchell has incredible game in Cavs' loss
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They're giving me different looks.' It can be confusing, especially against a physical and aggressive menace like Lu Dort, but Haliburton seemed to figure something out there in the fourth quarter. It could bode well for the Pacers, who come back to Downtown Indianapolis having stolen homecourt advantage from the heavily favored Thunder thanks to that Game 1 victory. If Haliburton figured something out, and it carries over to Game 3, maybe we get this: Abracadabra! If not, if the poor starts carry over, if the Thunder's overall defensive domination continues, we could get this: Poof. Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
