In the playoffs, every possession matters. Diving for loose balls and fighting for rebounds with everything one has is the bare minimum come postseason time. On Sunday, however, a scary moment unfolded when Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell attempted to save a ball from going out of bounds, as he ran over some fans along the sidelines and seemed to be reeling from pain after bearing the brunt of the impact.
Now, all is well that ends well, at least from a health perspective; Mitchell did shake off the knock, while he also made sure that the fans he collided with were in good condition. While the Cavs did lose Game 4 to the Toronto Raptors, 93-89, which now has the series tied at 2-2, the good news is that no one was seriously hurt in the aftermath of that scary play.
“I just ran into him. Just got the wind knocked out of me for the second time. And my biggest thing was after I was okay just making sure the man and the lady were okay,” Mitchell said in his postgame presser, via Oh No He Didn’t on X (formerly Twitter).
These past two games should be a wake-up call for the Cavs, although it helps that the next game of the series will be back in Rocket Arena. Mitchell, in particular, has to be better; scoring 20 points on 6-24 shooting from the field is not the kind of performance a team needs from its best player in a tough game on the road.
The Cavs’ big men also have to put up more of a fight; combining for 11 points on 5-16 shooting from the field is not going to cut it for both Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, while James Harden could perhaps be more aggressive in hunting his own shot.
Nonetheless, with the Cavs having homecourt advantage for this series, they should still be favored moving forward.