Player Grades: Cavs vs Pacers – Cavs backourt leads the way

The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers on Easter Sunday.

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.

Donovan Mitchell

38 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 steal

This was the Donovan Mitchell show. He set the tone immediately by attacking the paint on every other possession. Mitchell ended the game with a career-high 28 points in the paint, BLANK points total before rolling his ankle in the closing minutes.

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Let’s hope he’s okay.

Grade: A+

James Harden

28 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block

Harden stepped back and buried countless jumpers over the Pacers today. There aren’t many moves in the league that are more unguardable than that. Indiana looked hopeless trying to contain him — especially when Harden was using his gravity to create openings for his teammates.

He finished the game hitting 5-11 three-pointers, giving the Cavs enough offensive juice to get over the hump.

Grade: A

Keon Ellis

13 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal

The Cavs needed Ellis to hit a few three-pointers today. He was the only Cavalier other than Harden to connect on 3+ three-pointers. That extra boost was needed, not only because the rest of the team struggled, but because Ellis himself hadn’t hit that many outside shots in a game since March 13.

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Ellis had been shooting 8-32 from deep in his 10 games before this.

Grade: B+

Max Strus

4 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists

Strus had a rough night. He was tangled up more than a few times and suffered an injury to his left wrist as a result. He shot 1-710 from the floor and bricked a dunk.

He avoids flunking this one because of his contributions elsewhere.

Grade: D+

Thomas Bryant

14 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block

This is why the Cavs signed Bryant in the summer. Gone are the days of having no viable option in the case of losing both Mobley and Allen to injury. Bryant stepped up and hung a double-double on his former team to help the Cavs win this game.

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Can you rely on Bryant as the starting center in a playoff series? No. But eating innings in the regular season is nothing to scoff at. The Cavs have been needing this.

Grade: A+

Craig…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/player-grades-cavs-vs-pacers-004920489.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-06 00:49:00

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