The Eastern Conference leader is out on the verge of the brink? Team owner: Next three consecutive victories! We have done it!

Today, in the fourth game of the Eastern Conference semi-finals, the Cavaliers challenged the Pacers away, and the final result broke Cavaliers fans' hearts again. As the Cavaliers, the number one in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, they were pressed on the floor by their opponents in the whole game, and they were once 44 points behind the Pacers. They finally lost 109-129. The series score reached a 1-3 back position, and were on the verge of elimination. What was worse than losing was that the Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell directly left the court without any confrontation in the midfield and never returned in the second half. The Cavaliers originally sent almost all the main lineups in this game, hoping to win the key game to equalize the series. As a result, they not only lost the ball, but also injured the core, lost their wife and the soldiers. Judging from the content of the game, after the first half, the scores of the two teams were unbearable to look at: the Cavaliers only scored 39 points in the half game, while the Pacers scored a terrifying 80 points. As the team in the upper half, the Cavaliers were completely 41 points behind the Pacers, and it is hard to believe that this is the playoffs.

Cavaliers were collectively lost on the offensive end, and frequently missed people on the defensive end, and were destroyed by the Pacers' attack wave after wave. In the last quarter, the game also entered garbage time early. Atkinson surrendered, and the Cavaliers surrendered in advance and entered garbage time.

Although the team's game was bleak, the Cavaliers owner Gilbert was obviously unwilling to give up. After the game, he spoke out to cheer the team up:

"Yes, this is an ugly game, but we have experienced a 1-3 big reversal before. Now it's time to win three games in a row, and two of them are at home. Let's start from the fifth game!"

According to what Gilbert mentioned, the Cavaliers staged a historical miracle in 2016. James and Irving led the team to win three games in a row in the finals, reversing the 73-win Golden State Warriors at the time, and finally won the first championship trophy in the Cavaliers' history. And this memory is still the pride in the hearts of Cavaliers fans.

But back to the reality of the game, the current situation is still cruel. Today's Cavaliers have neither the dominance of the peak James nor the ability to attack at critical moments. The entire playoffs rely almost on Mitchell's personal performance. So far in the playoffs, Mitchell averaged 28.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, which is the biggest core that the Cavaliers can reach today.

Now even this core fell down due to injury, and we have not even seen his injury process. We just retreated without any confrontation when warming up in the midfield. Such an injury is obviously extraordinary, and the possibility of missing the game in the future is extremely high.

Even if Mitchell can endure the pain and play with injuries next, it is hard for us to expect him to still be able to play in a rampage state of Yi Yi's shoulder to shoulder the team. In the entire series, except for Mitchell, the Cavaliers have almost no second player who can stabilize their scores and control the rhythm of the game. All-star guard Garland is lost, and the new best defense Mobley became a plaything in Siakam, losing both ends of offense and defense.

On the other hand, the opponent Pacers are blooming at multiple points, and the offensive rhythm is very fast. Although the defense is average, the defensive performance in the playoffs is obviously higher in intensity than the regular season, and they can tear the Cavaliers' defense line to pieces almost every game.

Referring to the historical data of the league, the team that won the 3-1 lead in the NBA playoff series has a 95% chance of advancing, and the total record of the series is as high as 280 wins and 13 losses. Judging from the existing samples, the Knight is indeed on the verge of being eliminated.

Depending on the schedule, the next fifth game between the two sides will be played at 7 a.m. on May 14 at home, which is likely to be the last game of the season for the Cavaliers. As for the fight against the enemy, or the gentleman swept out? Can Mitchell come back and how can he recover in the game? These are currently unknowns.

As the creator of the 2016 miracle, this time, without James and Irving, does the Cavaliers still have a chance to reverse and turn around? Let's wait and see!