Game Night Observations: Mobley's leap and Mitchell's burst
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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and thelandondemand.com. He can be found on Twitter at @RealDCunningham.The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 118-107 on Friday night on the road in one of their more impressive performances of the season to give the team five consecutive wins.
There are a number of really positive things to take away from this one for the Cavs, but two of them that may be more important than the rest. The first is that big man Evan Mobley was the best player on the floor throughout the night and the other is that All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell looked more explosive than he has in any game since his groin injury nearly a month ago. The fact that those two things took place on the same night is an even bigger positive.
We’ll start with Mobley and get to Mitchell next.
On both ends of the floor Mobley was dominant for almost the entirety of the 36 minutes he played. He finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two blocks. The Cavs outscored the Pelicans by 18 points when he was on the floor and felt every bit that impactful.
There are now moments on both ends of the court where Mobley doesn’t just look like the best player on it, but he’s flat out dominant. Lately one of the things he’s done so well defensively is creating havoc when opponents attempt to pass near the basket.
Often times smaller players will dribble through the lane under the basket without the intention of shooting the ball, rather hoping to draw the help of a big man like Mobley, only to then pass the ball to the player that’s been left open for an easy basket.
Teams have tried this repeatedly on Mobley and it almost never works. He’s mastered not just where to be when helping on this type of play, but also the timing of when to help and when to get back and look for the pass to his original assignment. For a player in just his second season in the NBA, it’s an uncanny skill to already seemingly have perfected the way Mobley has.
On offense, Mobley has developed a core group of post moves he can go to when he needs a bucket. His hook shot has become very reliable, he’s shown soft touch on 10-to-12-foot jumpers, and he’s become even more of a lob threat around the rim during this season.
Since January 16, Mobley is averaging 19.5 points per game on 57 percent shooting with 9.5 rebounds while playing at an All-Defense level on the other end of the court. There are some that have questioned whether or not he was taking a step backwards this season, but now it’s becoming very clear he’s taking a giant one forward.
Mitchell’s burst
Mitchell didn’t play on Wednesday night when the Cavaliers blew out the Detroit Pistons due to a sore groin that he’s been dealing with for close to a month now. The Cavs winning that game without he or Garland was a nice sign for the team, but having Mitchell back on the floor Friday night in New Orleans was an even better sign.
Early on, Mitchell looked more explosive with the ball in his hands than he had been recently. He made it a point of emphasis to attack the rim, as the team as a whole did, especially when Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas was on the floor. Even when Mitchell was settling for jumpers from the perimeter, it looked as if he was able to get slightly more lift in his upward motion.
Throughout the night Mitchell looked like he was able to move more fluidly than he has lately, and it led to the first time he’s scored 30 or more points since January 10. He scored those 30 points on a very efficient 12 of 21 from the floor.
Seeing this type of play from Mitchell was common over the course of the first couple of months of the season, but haven’t been very frequent since his groin really became an issue nearly a month ago. If Mitchell plays on Saturday night (more on that below), seeing what he looks like physically will be a great barometer as to what to expect moving forward.
When Mitchell plays to the level he did on Friday night, and Mobley does too, the Cavs are going to be an incredibly difficult team for opponents to handle.
What tomorrow brings
The Cavs are now tasked with playing again on Saturday night. They’ll be back at home for an 8 p.m. start time against the Chicago Bulls. This comes after playing a game that didn’t start until 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday night in New Orleans. As of the time of this writing, it’s obviously not known what time the team’s return flight to Cleveland will touch down.
Having to start two games within a 22-hour window isn’t something that’s asked very often of NBA teams. Saturday night’s game is one that is looked at when the schedule comes out as a likely loss even though it’s against a lesser team.
The Cavs didn’t play Ricky Rubio on Friday, as he isn’t yet playing both ends of back-to-backs as he continues his return to play process after a season-ending torn left ACL last December. Him missing the game signals that he will be part of the plan against the Bulls on Saturday. In fact, in order to have Rubio in the best shape for Saturday, he did not accompany the team to New Orleans, instead staying back in Cleveland.
As for whether or not anyone else on the Cavs will be sitting out against the Bulls, the team will release an injury report no later than 1:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon with that answer.
As far as the schedule goes, one bright spot about Friday night is that the Cavaliers have no more remaining games on the road against Western Conference opponents. In fact, Friday night was the last game this season the Cavaliers will play outside of the Eastern Time Zone, certainly something that will be viewed as an advantage down the stretch of the season.
