Cavs prep for playoffs and Donovan Mitchell answers the call to lead
CLEVELAND — Prior to Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors, Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff pulled Donovan Mitchell aside to have a one-on-one chat.
The needed heart-to-heart came in the wake of the Cavs’ 136-119 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, during which Cleveland’s top-tier defense was shredded. It was arguably the Cavs’ worst performance of the entire season, and it’d be an easy argument to make. Plus, the Cavs were entering their fourth game this year against the Raptors, a team that had beaten them all three times before Sunday night.
Bickerstaff’s message was about setting the tone and being a leader. Mitchell’s response: “I got you.” And he did.
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Mitchell poured in a game-high 35 points, making 8 of 12 shots from 3-point range, and led the Cavs to a dominant 118-93 win over a team against which they had struggled all season.
“We needed this one. We needed this one for many different reasons, and [it was about] setting the tone early,” Mitchell said. “We don’t get there just by myself. At the end of the day, I told J.B. I got him, but as a group I think we all did it. But for me, just when a coach, you know, you have that talk, you kind of have to go out there and get to it.”
The Cavs (39-25) hold the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. They’re comfortably in the top six seeds that avoid the play-in tournament. They’re also continually building toward a potential playoff run in which Boston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia are ahead of them in the East.
The Cavs came out of the All-Star break with a close loss to the Denver Nuggets before Friday night’s blowout loss in Atlanta. It was on the second night of a back-to-back that involved travel, but it was also a slip in the Cavs’ usual defensive standards.