Donovan Mitchell wanted the home fans to keep it classy during Tuesday’s playoff game.
Mitchell’s Cleveland Cavaliers faced Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers during Game 2 of their second-round playoff series at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. In the second quarter of the contest, Haliburton stepped up to the free throw line for two shots and was targeted by Cavaliers fans in the arena with a cold chant. They chanted “OVERRATED!” at Haliburton.
Mitchell was not with it though and quickly shut down the chant while Haliburton was still at the line. The Cavaliers star Mitchell could be seen waving his hands in a downward motion to try to quiet the crowd.
Here is the video.
The Rocket Arena crowd was obviously referencing how the two-time All-Star Haliburton was voted as the most overrated player in the league earlier this season in a poll of his fellow NBA players. Many Pacers figures have since expressed sharp disapproval of the poll, and Haliburton himself referenced the poll after Indiana won their first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks. “Overrate THAT,” Haliburton wrote on X.
But in Tuesday’s Game 2, Mitchell either did not want Haliburton to have any fuel or he felt that the Cavaliers were doing a good enough job of performing without having to resort to troll jobs. Mitchell put up a game-high 21 points by halftime as Cleveland (playing without key players Evan Mobley, De’Andre Hunter, and Darius Garland) took a double-digit lead into the break.
