Pacers Most Dangerous Advantage Revealed by Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell

The 64-18 Cleveland Cavaliers made quick work of the Miami Heat, sweeping the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed emphatically. The closest game was a narrow 121-112 Game 2 victory, which actually required the Cavaliers' best players to suit up for meaningful minutes in the fourth quarter.

Otherwise, every other game was at least a 21-point blowout. The Cavaliers' average margin of victory was a brutal 30.5 points per.

Search "Heat Cancun" on X right now if you are bored.#Cavs dismantle Miami in Game 4, inspiring plenty of jokes with sweep: https://t.co/g8Bq9fLhGr
— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) April 29, 2025

So Cleveland will be cruising into its second round playoff series matchup against the 50-32 Indiana Pacers, who bested the Milwaukee Bucks 4-1 in their own relatively easy first round clash.

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A title favorite, the Cavaliers are hardly looking past the challenge the Pacers pose.

Per NBA insider Daryl Ruiter, six-time All-Star Cleveland combo guard Donovan Mitchell has revealed what elements most concern him about the Pacers' game: their speed and their depth.

Donovan Mitchell on #Cavs taking on the fast pace #Pacers in the conference semifinals pic.twitter.com/4e3V1Msa0L
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) May 1, 2025

"That's been their advantage," Mitchell said of the team's pace. "Just continuing to push, and they've got a lot of guys, they've got a lot of depth, which I think is what makes it possible. If they're playing five, six, seven, eight guys, you're not able to run at that pace over and over again."

Indiana is so deep that head coach Rick Carlisle occasionally played 10 guys meaningful minutes during the Bucks series.

"So you've got to respect everybody that's coming in, and you've got to make it tough on them," Mitchell said. "Understand that we've got to win the rebounding game, got to win the possession game, but got to get back in transition."

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"Up 20, down 20, up 10, down 10, just continue to have the same calmness about yourself. Understand that, yeah, we want to hit first," Mitchell said. "We may not hit first. We may be down 10-0. How do you respond to that? We may be down 20-0. How do you respond to that?"

In the first round, thanks to a litany of blowout victories, Mitchell played fairly sparingly, averaging just 30.8 minutes per. He notched 23.6 points on .478/.457/.722 shooting splits, 4.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals.

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