Iman Shumpert's raw verdict on Cavs after Game 3 loss is hard to ignore - RAW CHILI

Iman Shumpert’s raw verdict on Cavs after Game 3 loss is hard to ignore originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 3 to the New York Knicks 121-108 at Rocket Arena on Saturday night, fell to 0-3 in the Eastern Conference Finals, and watched Knicks fans openly chant “Let’s Go Knicks” inside their own building.

Iman Shumpert, the 2016 NBA champion who won a title in Cleveland, watched all of it and didn’t mince a word afterward.

“When you look at somebody like Donovan Mitchell, you know what he possesses. Score the basketball first, but the effort. He is an athlete. You got the nickname Spida Mitchell. I don’t care if you’re tired. I don’t care if you’re banged up. Do it without the mask,” Shumpert said in a clip circulating Sunday morning widely. “Save the bus, save the girl, take the punches, the broken ribs. That’s why you’re Spidaman.”

Why Shumpert’s body language critique hits hard

Mitchell scored 23 points in Game 3, but he hasn’t been quite as explosive as usual and hasn’t looked like himself lately, through three games of the series.

Shumpert widened the lens beyond Mitchell.

“When I look at this team, I look at guys that feel like sometimes somebody needs to put them in position, somebody needs to show them the way. No, no, no, no. Half the things that are going on with Cleveland is effort,” he said. “You have to see these things and say I’m gonna step up and have some pride about it.”

Cleveland shot 38.6% from the field in Game 3. Evan Mobley led the team with 24 points, but the Cavs never seriously threatened after the first quarter as Jalen Brunson scored 30 and Mikal Bridges shot 11-of-15.

No team in NBA history has recovered from 0-3. Game 4 is Monday night in Cleveland.

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