Donovan Mitchell against the Washington Wizards. ESPN Cleveland/Rob Lorenzo
Game Night Observations: Mitchell everything and more in home debut, Osman and the bench, too
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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and TheLandOnDemand.com The Cleveland Cavaliers moved to 2-1 on the season thanks to a 117-107 overtime win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Donovan Mitchell seems to be everything the Cavs need at all times. If there was a question of if the team made the right move or not this offseason by trading three role players and a bundle of draft picks for him, Mitchell’s performance on Sunday night – and the totality of his first three games in a Cavs uniform – have quelled that.
On a night where the Cavs started out sluggish and needed a pick me up, the answer was putting Mitchell with a group of bench players. When the Cavaliers couldn’t find ways to put Evan Mobley into positions to be successful offensively or get him enough shot attempts, it didn’t matter because of Mitchell. When the Wizards cut into a 15-point Cavs lead before the end of the third quarter, Mitchell hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
More importantly, the Cavs needed someone that was going to leave it all on the floor Sunday night. It wasn’t always pretty – as Mitchell had two costly turnovers late in the fourth quarters and went through a stretch of eight consecutive missed field goal attempts – but Mitchell was the biggest reason the Cavaliers won.
As Mitchell stepped to the free throw line with 31.5 left in overtime – during his 44th minute of the game, after playing 35 minutes last night in Chicago – he was serenaded with MVP chants in his first regular season home game as a member of the Cavs. Even if there were moments that he and the Cavs would like to have back, there are very few seconds when he’s on the floor that he isn’t in total control.
Since acquiring Mitchell via trade at the start of September, the organization has preached that they just want him to be himself. That’s exactly what he’s been, even if that means apologizing to his teammates, the crowd, and even the media for the game going to overtime on Sunday night. It’s who he is, and the Cavs couldn’t be happier with that outcome thus far.
“I’ll start off, I apologize making you all stay like 35, 45 minutes longer,” Mitchell said to open his press conference before taking any questions. “That was insane, but we got the win.”
He then apologized to the crowd for allowing the game to go to overtime before he was greeted by All-Star backcourt mate Darius Garland and All-Star center Jarrett Allen with cups of water to dump on him.
“That’s just how he is,” Allen said after the game. “He wants to do everything right to the best of his ability. Even when he is doing stuff right, he still feels like he is doing stuff wrong. Shows humility. He wants everyone, not to accept them, but to make sure he is doing the right thing.”
Cedi and the bench
One of the things that shifted things in a positive direction for the Cavs was the play of Cedi Osman and the bench.
While Garland is out with his eye injury, the Cavs have shifted Isaac Okoro into the starting lineup. In his first two starts, Okoro has been less than stellar offensively. He’s scored four points in 47 minutes on 2-of-9 shooting. Due to the energy that’s needed off the bench, it may not make sense to start Osman, but if that’s the direction the Cavs were to go on Wednesday against Orlando, it would absolutely be understood.
When Osman checked in on Sunday night, the Cavaliers looked a bit sluggish, trailing by 10 points just over four minutes into the game. Things immediately started to turn around, thanks in part due to Osman and a bench lineup that also featured Mitchell.
Osman finished the game with 16 points in 32 minutes on 6-of-10 shooting and 3-of-5 from long range. There’s certainly been no question this year that Osman has the green light to fire away when he has any bit of space to shoot. And his willingness to let it fly helps the Cavs, even on nights when he’s missing those shots. On the nights that he’s making them – like Sunday – it can totally flip a game in Cleveland’s favor.
JA for DPOY
It’s no secret that Allen is one of the best interior defenders in the NBA. He often finds himself as part of highlights on SportsCenter, whether he’s blocking a shot or getting dunked on. Allen is a terror for other teams to deal with around the rim, as was the case once again on Sunday night.
He does more than just that, though. Allen also has shown just how versatile he can be on the defensive end of the floor. He’s comfortable switching out onto the perimeter against smaller, quicker guards and doing his best to hold his own. That happened multiple times against Washington and All-NBA guard Bradley Beal.
While the highlight blocks are the things that are most easily noticed by the casual observer, the little things he does to alter the opposing team’s game plan is just as important, too.
“That's what Jarrett does. We go through our expectations of guys, like, that's his way of leading is a willing to do all the things that most people aren't willing to do. And that forces everybody else around him to do the same,” Bickerstaff said. “I mean, what he's capable of and the impact that he can have on that end of the floor, at that size, the versatility. I mean, like he's a defensive player of the year candidate every single year. And I think it's time that we acknowledge that.”
Quick hits
- Bickerstaff picked up his first technical of the year on Sunday night. Even after his technical, there were a few moments where it looked as if he could be in jeopardy of picking up another one and being ejected from the game.
- There will be a deeper dive on this later in the week, but Evan Mobley has yet to have a huge impact on a game offensively. He has not cracked double digits in shot attempts in any of Cleveland’s three games to date.
- Cavs center Robin Lopez played 15 minutes off the bench in the win and scored six points. That includes one of the funniest made field goals the Cavs have had in quite some time.
- The Cavs will have an off day on Monday before likely practicing Tuesday. The team will be in game action next on Wednesday night at home against Orlando.
