CLEVELAND \u2014\u00a0This is why he is here. It\u2019s on him now. This is why the Cleveland Cavaliers surrendered three players and three unprotected draft picks to acquire Donovan Mitchell, for moments such as Sunday\u2019s Game 7 in Detroit.<\/p>\n
Mitchell has heard all the criticisms of not being able to get out of the second round. He had the perfect opportunity at home Friday night in Game 6 to close out the Pistons, to unburden himself from one of the largest stains left on his terrific career.<\/p>\n
Instead, he delivered one of his worst performances of this postseason: 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting in the Cavs\u2019 115-94 loss. The Cavs were outscored by 25 points while he was on the floor, matching his second-worst plus\/minus in a playoff game since arriving in Cleveland.<\/p>\n
I wrote after last season\u2019s series loss to the Indiana Pacers that it felt like Mitchell was farther ahead on his career trajectory than the rest of the younger roster. Mitchell has reached the point in his career where he is obsessed with winning. He has made his money. He has made enough All-Star teams and All-NBA teams that the only thing left to do is win. It felt last year like the rest of the Cavs\u2019 roster hadn\u2019t quite caught up to him in their growth.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s no longer the case. The trade to bring James Harden here addressed some of it. The growth of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen over this postseason seemed to narrow that gap as well.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a talent issue; the Cavs have the league\u2019s highest payroll. It\u2019s not a health issue, which is the excuse they could have used in the past. This appears to be the healthiest they\u2019ve been for a postseason run during this era. It\u2019s not a maturity issue. Harden is 36. Allen is 28. Mobley has played five full years now.<\/p>\n
There are no more excuses. Mitchell has what he needs. It\u2019s on him now to deliver.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t dwell on it,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI missed shots tonight. \u2026 I\u2019ve been making them most every game of this series, and tonight I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not entirely accurate. Mitchell hasn\u2019t looked like himself for most of this postseason. If he isn\u2019t hiding an injury, it\u2019s otherwise difficult to explain. The Toronto Raptors threw unorthodox, junk defenses that he never really unraveled. Fine. But he hasn\u2019t fared much better against the Pistons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aside from his historic second-half eruption in Game 4, Mitchell is shooting 42 percent in this series and 26 percent from 3. He shot 36 percent from 3 during the regular season.<\/p>\n
Mitchell is shooting more from midrange, primarily floaters, than he has in the recent past, and he\u2019s making fewer of them. He has struggled getting to the rim at various points in this series, and he has struggled from 3 for most of it. That doesn\u2019t leave much else.<\/p>\n
Detroit\u2019s Ausar Thompson was great at guarding Mitchell in Game 6. Thompson is long and athletic and causes matchup problems. The Pistons are well known for their physicality defensively as well. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson wants to get Mitchell easier looks in Game 7 by getting out and running in the open court. When it slows to a half-court game, the Pistons can set their defense, which leads to clutching, grabbing and holding that the officials aren\u2019t calling.<\/p>\n
Detroit\u2019s physical style of defense is why Atkinson didn\u2019t use a timeout at the end of regulation in Game 5. He didn\u2019t want to give the Pistons a chance to set their half-court defense, which proved problematic again Friday in Game 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a logjam tonight,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cAll of us, we had a tough time getting free. At the end of the day, that\u2019s on us. This is how the game\u2019s being called. We have to adjust to how the game is being called. \u2026 We have to find a way to play with more force offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cavs\u2019 lack of urgency and sloppy ballhandling have let the Pistons drag this to a Game 7. It has been a terrific series, but the Cavs certainly appear to be the more talented team. The Pistons, however, are now 4-0 when facing elimination in these playoffs and have proved to be a tougher out than their youth would indicate.<\/p>\n
Another huge Game 7 is looming for the Cavs on Sunday. Mitchell is due an extension this summer. Harden, who has a reputation for poor performances in Game 7s, is eyeing a new contract as well.<\/p>\n
What becomes of Atkinson if the Cavs lose this series to his predecessor?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot at stake for this franchise. There\u2019s a lot at stake for Mitchell.<\/p>\n
He has the help he needs. It\u2019s all right in front of him. There\u2019s only one thing left to do.<\/p>\n
Win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014\u00a0This is why he is here. It\u2019s on him now. This is why the Cleveland Cavaliers surrendered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[5,7317,2328,2304,4,2305,2303,260,5386],"class_list":["post-700556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-baseball","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-nba","tag-opinion"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116584985629901339","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}