CLEVELAND, Ohio, - The sting of playoff elimination often triggers emotional reactions, but for the Cavs, the path forward requires precision rather than wholesale reconstruction, Terry Pluto said on this week’s Terry’s Talkin’ podcast.

For as high-scoring and high-flying as they came to known during the regular season, the Cleveland Cavaliers' "Cavalanche" settled to a stop when it mattered most. Despite being the No. 1 seed, the Cavaliers were bounced from the second round of the NBA playoffs in five games to the Indiana Pacers,

The Cavs face playoff elimination as Donovan Mitchell is questionable ahead of Game 5, while everything is on the line.

The Cleveland Cavaliers ' 2024-25 season effectively came to an end on Tuesday night as a result of their rough Game 5 loss against the Indiana Pacers, 114-105– ultimately an abrupt and disappointing finish to the team's best regular season showing since the 2008-09 campaign.

The East's top seed has been eliminated. With their 114-105 win in Game 5 on Tuesday night, the Indiana Pacers knocked out the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs and clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive season.

The Indiana Pacers emphatically pushed the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers to the brink of playoff elimination with a dominant 129-109 win to take a 3-1 series lead.

Indiana solved the zone defense that perplexed it in Game 3, taking a 41-point halftime lead and putting Cleveland on ice.