The NBA’s second apron is basically a pair of handcuffs placed on franchises that consistently are over the NBA’s soft salary cap. But instead of it being just

The Cavaliers were largely competitive in their second-round series with the Pacers, at least outside of Game 4's blowout, but the playoff margins are razor thin. All it took were a few poorly timed injuries,

Indiana has reached the Eastern Conference Finals for consecutive years. That's not lucky, this team is for real.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won their second-most games in franchise history this season and entered the NBA playoffs as the Eastern Conference's top seed. And yet, the end of their run still feels like a worst-case scenario.

Donovan Mitchell made a point in going back out onto the court at Rocket Arena minutes after suffering a Game 5 loss to the Indiana Pacers, which eliminated the