Cavs’ legacies, futures of James Harden, Donovan Mitchell may have all changed with one bounce originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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As that basketball hung in the air, so too hung in the balance so many futures and legacies.
RJ Barrett’s overtime shot, dropping back to earth, could’ve missed. It could’ve let James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and the Cleveland Cavaliers off the hook. It could’ve avoided becoming yet another “the” fill-in-the-blank in Cleveland sports history.
But then it went in. It was “the bounce.” And it may have changed everything.
The difference about this shot for the Cavs is that there’s another game. It was Game 6. The Cavs entered the night leading the series 3-2.
If Cleveland takes care of business back home in Game 7, it won’t matter. But that’s a big if at this point.
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Harden is now 4-13 all-time in Game 6s in the playoffs, worst of all time. Mitchell doesn’t have much better a playoff winning record.
These guys haven’t proven they can pull out the biggest games on the biggest stage. And now they’ve been backed into a corner where they must.
If they don’t, there’s no telling what happens next. There will be trade rumors, fans calling for the backcourt to be broken up, or the frontcourt to be broken up, or both.
This was supposed to be the season to make noise in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Celtics were supposed to be down. The Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers were down.
And maybe the Cavs can still do that. Like we said, they’ll get a chance at a do-over, a chance to make sure “The Bounce” doesn’t become infamous in Cleveland sports history, too.
But if they can’t? It’ll go right next to “The Shot,” when Michael Jordan stunned the Mark Price-led Cavs in 1989 to eliminate Cleveland and send them mostly out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture until LeBron arrived.
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These Cavs can still have a promising future, but there are only so many times a team can lose in the first two rounds. And there are only so many times a Cleveland team seeded better can lose to the team that doesn’t even have home-court advantage.
The Cavaliers are on the brink, all because that high bounce off the back rim was positioned just so that the ball could come back through the hoop.
Will Cavs fans remember The Bounce for years to come? It’ll all hinge on what happens in Game 7.