Tough times for Cavs, brighter days for Browns?
- col-aaron-dorksen
- May 7, 2025
- 343
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
Chalk up another crushing loss for Cleveland sports fans, this time courtesy of the Indiana Pacers.
The Cavaliers let a seemingly certain victory slip away in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinals playoff series, suffering a shocking 120-119 loss against the visiting Pacers on May 6.
Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1.1 seconds to steal the win.
The Cavs led by seven points with 1:06 left in the game but committed two turnovers, and the Pacers grabbed two offensive rebounds en route to taking a 2-0 series lead that no one could have expected.
Despite playing without two injured All-Stars — Darius Garland (toe) and Evan Mobley (ankle) — and standout De’Andre Hunter (thumb), the Cavs should have won Game 2. However, in crunch time they looked like they never practiced an inbounds play against pressure defense or were taught the importance of boxing out.
We will never know for sure if the Cavs ran out of gas or ran out of smarts. It was probably a combination of both.
I'm not going to count the Cavaliers out, trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven series as it moves to Indianapolis for Game 3 on May 9 and Game 4 on May 11.
But unless one or more of the injured trio can come back and play well, things look worse for the Cavs than backup power forward Tristan Thompson’s jumpshot. And with the way things are going, we may actually see Thompson playing extended minutes.
Injuries are always the X-factor, no matter what the level of sports.
Things looked so good for the Cavs after a first-round series win over the Miami Heat, 4-0, but Garland missed his fourth straight playoff game, and the Cavs have clearly missed his elite speed and playmaking ability.
I have no doubt Garland would have gotten open to catch the Cavs’ inept-looking, late-game inbounds passes or helped free someone else up.
Cleveland is in an extremely difficult position after entering the playoffs with the East’s top seed, courtesy of winning 64 games in the regular season. It would be a massive disappointment if they once again ended their season in the conference semifinals.
Depth was the Cavs’ biggest strength all season, but in Game 1, they relied too much on Mitchell and Ty Jerome. In Game 2 it was nice to see some more players step up, but coach Kenny Atkinson admitted after the game that he should have gone deeper into his bench for minutes.
Donovan Mitchell led the way with 48 points in 36 minutes, Max Struss tossed in 23 in 40 minutes and Jarrett Allen netted 22 in 38 minutes.
The Cavs had five huge turnovers in the fourth quarter after committing only eight through three quarters.
Atkinson is going to have to trust more players with more minutes in Games 3 and 4, or else the Pacers are going to run the Cavs out of the playoffs. If that happens, the Game 2 loss will be looked at as the point when the air started leaking out of the season.
Browns had surprisingly good draft
I did not submit a column last week and have to chime in with my thoughts on the Browns’ draft.
I'm sure I'm not alone in describing the draft as a roller coaster for us Cleveland fans.
I was initially really disappointed that the Browns did not take two-way standout Travis Hunter from Colorado with the second overall pick.
However, after sitting back and thinking about everything that transpired over the three days, it was actually a surprisingly good effort out of the Browns’ usually questionable front office.
If Browns fans had been told before the draft they’d wind up with the following list and Jacksonville’s first-round pick next year, I think most would have said, “That’s a good class!”
Cleveland’s first pick was defensive tackle Mason Graham from Michigan. They also drafted Carson Schwesinger (LB, UCLA), Quinshon Judkins (RB, Ohio State) and Harold Fannin Jr. (TE) in the second and third rounds.
In the third round, they also selected Dillon Gabriel (QB, Oregon), and in the fifth round, they selected Shedeur Sanders (QB, Colorado). The Browns also selected Dylan Sampson (RB, Tennessee) in the fourth round.
The only pick that doesn’t make sense to me is taking the 5-foot-11 Gabriel in the third round. It's been rough going for shorter quarterbacks in the NFL, but GM Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski obviously see something in Gabriel.
Graham was one of the top-five-rated players in the entire draft by many experts. For Cleveland to get him and also Jacksonville's first-round pick in 2026, that could wind up a good move.
Schwesinger is a highly touted All-American, and Judkins (three-time 1,000-yard rusher) and Sampson (SEC Offensive Player of the Year) will add immediate improvements at running back.
Fannin could be a surprise standout as a pass-catching tight end. I love that he’s from Bowling Green and nearby Canton McKinley.
Finally, let’s get to Sanders, the most talked-about player in the draft. Leave it to the Browns to add even more drama by taking Sanders, but as a fifth-round pick, it’s worth the gamble. I don’t know if anyone from the Sanders family can ever be humbled, but by dropping to Round 5, Shedeur will have even more motivation to prove himself — and prove the many doubters wrong.
Parting shots
Best wishes to Akron Zips redshirt freshman infielder Blake Bowen, who underwent surgery for a torn labrum recently.
Bowen was a two-time first-team All-Ohioan at Wooster and put up some of the top offensive numbers in area prep history.
As the 16th-ranked recruit in Ohio as a senior, Bowen went to national power Kentucky in 2024 but was slowed by a shoulder injury. He battled through pain after transferring to Akron in 2025, batting .279 with a team-high five home runs before shutting down his season recently.
“Obviously, hearing that I have been playing with a torn labrum might sound awful at first, but I am super-glad that we figured out what the injury was,” said Bowen, who will be joined on the Akron team by younger brother Brady, along with fellow Generals Ben Winge and Sam Nielsen next year. “I have been dealing with this injury since high school, so now knowing what it is will be a great start to recovery.
“I know how tough of an injury it is to recover and get back from, so I will work extremely hard in physical therapy to get back by next season.”
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com.