The Cavs simply needed more from their best player.
Nothing went right for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night in their one-sided loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. This included a rough showing for Donovan Mitchell who finished with 8 points on 3-15 shooting. This was the second poor performance against the Thunder in just over a week. He’s now combined for just 19 points on 6-31 shooting in these two matchups.
Losing as ugly as the Cavs did will happen throughout the season. That isn’t concerning in the long run. What is concerning is how Mitchell couldn’t do anything during OKC’s 30-2 run to stop the bleeding. It didn’t even seem like he tried to do so.
Mitchell was on the bench for the initial part of the run, but it was just a four-point deficit when he subbed in with over four minutes in the first quarter. Things got out of hand quickly from there. Mitchell attempted just two shots during that run which extended to the beginning of the second quarter. The first attempt didn’t come until it was already a 16-point game.
By then, the outcome already felt decided with how good Oklahoma City’s defense is.
Mitchell has done a good job of not forcing things this year. He’s played within the flow of the overall offense which has allowed players like Evan Mobley and Darius Garland to take their game to new heights. However, this was a situation where you needed him to be much more assertive given the bench unit he was on the court with.
This performance stood in contrast to what we saw from Mitchell in previous big games this season. In their Nov. 19 matchup with the Boston Celtics, the Cavs benefited from Mitchell’s aggression. They also didn’t have anything going then, but Mitchell’s assertiveness willed them back into the game. Although it wasn’t his most efficient night, Mitchell’s 35 points on 29 shots was what that group needed to make it a close game down the stretch.
Conversely, this wasn’t a situation like the Jan. 8 outing against the Thunder where he also struggled. There, the offense was rolling and it was only Mitchell who was struggling. He correctly ceded control to Garland and the two bigs instead of forcing it himself.
Here, the Cavs needed the version of Mitchell they got in their road loss to Boston.
The Thunder present a particularly difficult matchup for Mitchell with Lu Dort and the other versatile defenders they have. Even Boston’s wings can’t match the level of physicality at the point of attack Oklahoma City has. Still, this is something you need your best player to overcome in the biggest games. At the very least, you’d like to see them go down swinging.
The Cavs have gotten out to their 34-6 record largely due to Mitchell’s willingness to not be the entire focal point of the offense. There are still situations where your best player will need to singlehandedly pull the offense out of the mud. This is something that we know Mitchell can do. He just didn’t on Thursday and took responsibility for it.
“I put this one on me,” Mitchell said afterward. “As a leader, you gotta set the tone. It’s twice now against this team that I haven’t been there. … That’s me. I’ll be better for this group. When your leader is not doing it, it trickles down.”
There’s a lot of blame to go around in a loss like this, but Mitchell is right for putting it on him. This team needed a spark and it didn’t seem like Mitchell attempted to provide it. At least not when the game was getting away from it did during OKC’s first-half run.
It’ll be interesting to see how both Mitchell and this group respond to some of their first bit of adversity this season.