Group Text Max Strus Sent His Cavs Teammates Blows Up In His Face After Awful Game 5 Outing

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Cleveland Cavaliers guard Max Strus decided to send a motivational text message to his teammates ahead of their must-win Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Playoffs on Tuesday night. While there is certainly nothing wrong with trying to fire up your teammates with a quick text message, it opens you up for scrutiny if the word gets out and your teammates don't show up.

Unfortunately for Strus and the Cavs, that scenario unfolded in Game 5. 

Cleveland's season is now over, and Strus is getting flamed on social media, and not solely because the Cavs fell at home to the Pacers, but because of his own stat line from the contest.

The 29-year-old went 0-for-9 from the field and didn't manage to score a single point in his 26 minutes of action. Strus put up 20 points in Game 3 of the series and 23 in Game 2, so his completely off night was a bit of a shocker.

Folks on X, formerly Twitter, were quick to clown Strus after the Cavs were eliminated from the postseason.

It's safe to say that Strus wishes that the TNT crew hadn't reported on his pre-game text message after the fact, but hey, sometimes things don't work out.

As for the Cavs, the injury bug bit them at the worst time possible with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland both dealing with lingering issues during this postseason. 

While it felt like it was a lock that the Boston Celtics or Cavs would represent the East in the NBA Finals this season, Cleveland has already been eliminated and the New York Knicks are just one win away from eliminating the Jayson Tatum-less Celtics.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets, including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016, when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.