Donovan Mitchell isn’t letting their brutal loss to the Brooklyn Nets discourage him, but he knows very well the Cleveland Cavaliers need to learn their lesson from the defeat.
Speaking to reporters after the Nets handed them a 125-117 beating, Mitchell emphasized that it’s the kind of games the Cavs need to get used to and adapt to quickly if they want to compete in the playoffs and reach the NBA Finals. Having played in multiple postseason matches himself, the former Utah Jazz star shared that it’s like a test of sorts to get them ready for the real deal.
“That’s playoff basketball… That’s a playoff mentality,” Mitchell shared, per Hayden Grove of Cleveland.com
The Cavs faithful will certainly like that take from Donovan Mitchell and the mentality he showed. He didn’t have the best of games, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field including 3-of-9 from the 3-point line, but at least he’s not finger-pointing or pinning the blame for the loss on anyone or anything.
Hopefully, though, the Cavs really learned their lesson and won’t commit the same mistakes they did against the Nets. Three-point defense was the biggest issue for Cleveland, allowing Kyrie Irving to make seven triples against them. Sure enough, they can’t let anyone get easily looks like that, especially in the postseason.
The good news for Cleveland is that they saw Darius Garland explode for 46 points. If he can maintain his high-level production and Mitchell gets out of his scoring slump, the Cavs should be able to return to the dominant team we saw earlier in the season.