Mitchell: Can you only be the king of the regular season?

After the audience left the field, another figure appeared in the empty stadium.

is Mitchell. He looked depressed and slowly walked to the bench to sit down, staring at the floor of the court in a daze. The cheers and laughter of the Pacers players seemed to be echoing in the court as they defeated the East No. 1 and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In 2017, the No. 13 rookie from Louisville shocked the league in the playoffs, and everyone remembered his name - "Spider Boy" Mitchell. In the playoffs that year, Mitchell averaged 24.4 points, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He eliminated the Thunder, led by Westbrook, Pickled Pepper and Melon in 6 games in the first round, and lost to Harden, who was in full swing in 6 games in the second round. It is an amazing result for a rookie to lead the team to the second round in the second year of his career.

But who knew that the second round had become the threshold that Mitchell could not pass from now on. In his 5-year Jazz career, Mitchell led the team to achieve good results in the Western Conference, where there were many strong players. The Jazz often ranks at the forefront of the Western Conference, but the Jazz never could step onto the stage of the Western Conference Finals. Before the 22-23 season began, Danny Angie traded Mitchell to the Cavaliers, and the Cavaliers welcomed the first superstar in the post-James era.

The Cavaliers were in the reconstruction period at that time, and Mitchell's arrival quickly promoted the Cavaliers' revival. In the first season, Mitchell led the team to 51 wins, ranking fourth in the East, and the Cavaliers gradually grew into a strong team in the East. Coming this season, Mitchell led the Cavaliers to their best record in the post-James era, and they won 64 games and ranked first in the Eastern Conference. It has been 9 years since the last time I won the first place in the Eastern Conference.

Just as everyone was expecting the Cavaliers to make a difference in the playoffs, they let everyone down. With everyone optimistic about them, they were swept by the Pacers gentleman and stopped in the second round. Although the Cavaliers have many reasons to say, including but not limited to injury issues, player status issues, and on-the-spot arrangement issues.

But for Mitchell, no matter how many excuses you have, you can't get back time. In September, Mitchell will celebrate his 29th birthday, and the All-Star player is no longer young.

Mitchell, sitting on the sidelines, looked upwards. He saw the dazzling championship flag. He saw many Eastern Championship flags. He seemed to have seen the No. 23 jersey fluttering in the air a few years later, and he hoped that one day he could hang his jersey next to his idol.

Thoughts returned to the court. For Mitchell, although he played with injuries, the pain of the injury had been tormenting him. However, the bitterness of the defeat had already made him forget the pain in his body. He seemed to see LeBron stomping his just sprained ankle on the sidelines and running back to the court. He seemed to see LeBron look back at himself.

His thoughts floated back to the kid who was lying on the bed, holding a basketball, and looking at the James poster on the wall several years ago. At that time, he hoped that LeBron would bring a championship trophy to the Cavaliers.

His thoughts returned to college, and the freshman saw LeBron's face full of tears on TV and shouted "Cleveland, this is for you!". The young man also burst into tears with excitement. He made a wish that one day he could be like his idol.

A tear suddenly flashed across Mitchell's face, and while no one was paying attention, he secretly reached out to wipe it dry.

Will next year be better?