CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers' defeat of the version of the Memphis Grizzlies they disposed of Wednesday night can't be counted as a turning point.
Donovan Mitchell said, “I don't want his name to be misunderstood, so I'm going to call him 'Jake.'” With all due respect to LaRabia and the players like LaRabia who have worn Memphis uniforms. This is something that contains a lot of LaRabia is a borderline rotation player for the Grizzlies, GG Jackson II is a keeper, but other than that he was a 12-man — 12 — Memphis men's injury report. I'm planning my vacation in that locker room. Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart…the real stars are nowhere to be found in this version of the Grizzlies.
At this special juncture in the season, no serious team trying to accomplish what the Cavs are trying to accomplish should win a game like this.
“We were playing a little nervous and trying to make sure everything was perfect, and I think that's when we weren't at our best,” Jarrett Allen said.
The Cavs should have fought until the very end to maintain home court advantage in the first round of the playoff series, which was a certainty at the time of the All-Star break, but they trailed by as many as nine points and lost to the Grizzlies. We were trailing by 3 points. In half. Three days earlier, Cleveland blew a 26-point deficit in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, ending a disastrous Western Conference road trip with a 1-5 record.
They put together a 110-98 win, but most of the details don't matter. Because when the playoffs arrive, or even Friday night when the Cavaliers (47-33) host the Indiana Pacers (currently in fourth place, one game behind Cleveland). Eastern Conference), the intensity, competition, and talent of the opponents is much better.
The Cavs notoriously struggled to handle the pressure of their first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks last April, and for more than a month between Dec. 15 and the All-Star break, the NBA's best team was an empty shell. I could see my former self.
“Towards the end of the season, we lost a few games in a row. … We want to go into the playoffs with high spirits,” Allen said. “It just happens, it happens to everyone, when something is right in front of us and we want it so badly that we start to get nervous about it. So we need to relax. It is.”
Opponents aside, there was a development on Wednesday that caused Cleveland's overall mind and spirit to relax. Mitchell was a little more mobile and took a few shots.
It's not just the losses since the All-Star break (the Cavaliers are 11-16 in that span), it's the fact that Mitchell hasn't looked, played or otherwise been available. Coming into the game against the Grizzlies, Mitchell had appeared in just nine games since All-Star weekend and was averaging 16.9 points, primarily due to a left knee injury. Lately, he hasn't been able to get past defenders to get to the rim, much less jump over someone for a dunk. He shot 28 percent from 3-point range in the three games he played on the Western road trip.
Mitchell's 29 points on 9-of-17 shooting and 5 threes on Wednesday was his second-best game since the hiatus (31 points against the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 27). . He still didn't have his usual speed and explosiveness, but the ball was coming out of his hands better and his jumpers had more lift and were hitting more spots on the floor. I did. He was more vocal and animated on the court than he has been in recent weeks, and also had eight assists, three steals, one block and four rebounds.
Of course, these are positive signs. Because as the Cavs have shown recently, if Mitchell isn't very good, the Cavs aren't very good. He was named an All-Star this season and was in the top four in scoring until his recent passing.
“For me, there's no question he'll get there,” Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff said, predicting Mitchell will be back to full health before it's too late. “With three games in almost 14 days, he has a chance to get in shape on the court. We know who Donovan is and what he's capable of.”
The Cavaliers called Mitchell's knee injury a bone bruise, but Bickerstaff described it as a wear-and-tear injury. Mitchell received a regenerative injection, missed seven games, returned for two, but looked slow, suffered a broken nose, and missed another six games. His knee had something to do with his absence. Before leaving for the road trip, Mitchell declared himself healthy and his knee healed, but his performance and the two DNPs he recorded suggested otherwise.
Mitchell said he is currently torn between managing his pain and regaining the confidence that he can perform explosive movements without breaking his knee.
“The most important thing for me is to continue to regain confidence in my body,” Mitchell said. “The biggest cure for this is rest. I don't have time for that. … I consider myself a pretty mentally strong person, so I can just find ways to adapt to the situation. Tonight really It felt good and I’m going to keep building on that.”
An unofficial tally around the Cavaliers is that Mitchell, the 2018 NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner, has recorded just one dunk since the hiatus. He was quick to point out that he was only dunking in warm-ups and hadn't done many dunks in games all season. In fact, you don't need to dribble in traffic, jump over defenders, or swing around the rim to be effective on the court. This gesture would be more symbolic of how much of what Mitchell can do when healthy is within his reach.
That's what the Cavs are trying to figure out now as they compete for position and hope to emerge from contention as a No. 4 seed at worst and then win a playoff series. In mid-February, they were in second place in the East. Now, they could be a No. 6 seed or even fall into the play-ins.
“We know Donovan can do it. I mean, it's not like an eclipse, it's not world-changing for us,” Allen said, with Mitchell finally healthy and one shot at an opponent. He talked about the moment when he felt confident enough to add .
“We talked about it there and said we're going to find a way no matter what. No matter what happens, no matter how he feels, we'll find a way to make it work. intend to.”
(Photo of Donovan Mitchell: Ken Blaze / USA Today)
