Indiana Pacers: 3 reasons the season is over

The Indiana Pacers’ Cinderella run to the 2018 NBA Playoffs ended abruptly with a crushing loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The morning after the Indiana Pacers fell in a crushing Game 7 loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, an Instagram post from David Alexander, who trains Victor Oladipo, took social media by storm.

The post was a perfect example of why this Pacers team was so much fun to believe in all season. Simply, it was a screenshot of a text from Victor Oladipo just minutes after being handed the most meaningful loss of his young career, with the star combo guard asking his trainer, “When do we start? I’m ready to take it to another level.”

Indeed, this was one of the most inspiring runs in recent memory as a team pegged for just one nationally televised game before the season began nearly robbed the King of the basketball world of another opportunity to keep his NBA Finals streak alive. It was exciting to say the least.

Some say nothing gold can stay. In this case, what was gold and navy blue wouldn’t stay. Despite a strong push and nearly every reason to believe this Pacers team could advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, here are the key reasons why instead, the Cinderella season is sadly over.