Mitchell isn’t running from the criticism after another poor performance.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cleveland Cavaliers in shots with 18, but only one of Cleveland’s 11 rotation players had fewer makes than Mitchell. It’s difficult to break out of a losing streak when the team’s best offensive player goes 2-18 from the field and finishes with seven points. That’s part of the reason the Cavs dropped their fourth straight on Friday night with a 123-112 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Mitchell didn’t shy away from the blame afterward. He accepted full responsibility for how poorly things went.
“I’ll put this on me,” Mitchell said postgame. “When your leader ain’t doing s***, this is what happens. Yeah, we need to guard better, rebound, s*** like that. If I’m not being who I need to be, we’re not going to get to where we want to get to. Until that happens, and it will, but until that happens…if you have anywhere to point, it’s right here.”
Mitchell isn’t wrong. This has also been a recurring theme.
Since initially injuring his groin in the March 7 win over the Charlotte Hornets, Mitchell is averaging 17.8 points on .292/.159/.929 shooting splits in his last five games, which includes this recent four-game skid.
“I’ve been like this the last four games, and we’ve lost four straight,” Mitchell said. “I have to be better. You can point to all these different things like [Kevin Durant] had 30 whatever we gave him, F*** all that. It’s on me. I have to be better for the group. I’ve been great for the group all year. This is on me.”
While Mitchell has been awful, to act like that’s the only problem right now with the Cavs would be incorrect. The defense has been horrible, they can’t get any rebounds, and turnovers have been an issue. That isn’t all on Mitchell.
“He’s been batting .400, he’s been Ted Williams all year,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said of Mitchell postgame. “You’re going to have moments like this in the season. We’ve been running him hard. This is the third game in four nights. This is the reality of the NBA, even the great ones. I’ve seen it happen to KD, I’ve seen it happen to [Devin Booker]. It’s just part of it. And in these moments, we gotta lift him up. We need people to come and help him.”
That hasn’t happened.
Things aren’t going right for the Cavs outside of Mitchell. The attention to detail and extra effort plays that have been there all season up until the road trip isn’t coming through. That isn’t surprising considering there’s little left to play for this regular season and how grueling the month of March is from a schedule perspective. Those factors just make Mitchell’s recent poor showings that much more noticeable.
“That’s who he is,” said reserve guard Ty Jerome when told about Mitchell’s comments. “It doesn’t surprise me that he said that. You’re obviously not going to win or lose a game because of one player. That’s what makes him, him. He wants to be better and he’s gonna be better. He’s fine.”
Mitchell will break out of his slump shortly. Great players have a way of doing that. We know that this isn’t who Mitchell has been throughout his time in Cleveland and specifically this season. Until then, he’s not going to hide from the criticism these performances bring.
“This is one of those moments where you gotta double down on your s***,” Mitchell said. “Four games don’t define who I am as a player. … For me, just double down on my work, get back to doing what I do and just continue to be confident which I am. I’m not gonna run from it, not gonna run from the criticism. This is the role I have. This is my job. If you have anywhere to point, point at me.
“I’ll be better. That’s that.”