Game Night Observations: Below the standard, Mitchell's big night, and a showdown in Philly
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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and thelandondemand.com. You can find him on Twitter at @RealDCunningham.The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the San Antonio Spurs 117-109 on Monday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to run their winning streak to seven games.
This certainly was not the best game the Cavs have played during their winning streak. In fact, it may have been the worst of the wins, even if they all count the same at the end of the day.
The Spurs aren’t a very good basketball team. After losing to the Cavs they’re now 14-44 on the season and riding a 13-game losing streak to the bottom of the standings. They’re a team that the Cavaliers don’t need to play their best to beat, and that certainly was the case on Monday night.
The Cavaliers played far from their best against San Antonio. There were times when it all clicked, and certainly some bright spots, but overall this was a game that the Cavaliers underperformed a bit. Lately, the team has been able to suffocate opponents defensively enough to create significant distance on the scoreboard and not let up. That wasn’t the case against the Spurs.
In the first quarter, the Cavs held San Antonio to just 19 points. It looked like a familiar script was being written until it wasn’t. In the second quarter the Spurs scored 30 points and in the third quarter they scored 32.
“We didn't play to our standard. It was that simple,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the win. “We didn't do the things we needed to do at the level we're used to doing them at. We got lucky to get away with a win.”
If the Cavs weren’t playing a team like the Spurs, this one certainly could have gone differently. The intensity and aggressiveness that has been a staple of the team’s winning streak wasn’t nearly as noticeable on Monday, especially after the first quarter.
“You should hold yourself to a higher standard than that. And you should respect the game and respect your opponents the same,” Bickerstaff said.
This type of game was bound to happen at some point. The fact that the Cavaliers were able to still win a game in which they very clearly were not at their best is certainly something that’s a good sign. Teams have off nights in the NBA. Sometimes it’s in the form of missed shots, while other times it’s missed assignments and turnovers. On Monday night, it was a little bit of both.
While the overall shooting numbers were solid for the Cavs, Donovan Mitchell (more on him below) was a big part of that. He made six 3-pointers, while the rest of the team went just 3-of-15 from beyond the arc. Darius Garland finished with 16 points but missed all four of his 3-pointers and turned the ball over six times.
“I think there were some uncharacteristic ones,” Bickerstaff said of Garland’s turnovers. “Like he doesn't get the ball taken from him. I think he had a few of those where they took the ball from him. But again, he's better than that.”
The Cavaliers are going to have to be better than they were on Monday night if they want to get to where they want to go, but being in complete control for the majority of the game even on a night that features a below-standard performance isn’t the worst thing this team has done this season.
Mitchell all the way back
The best thing about the game for the Cavaliers was the play of Mitchell on Monday night. After two really strong games on Friday in New Orleans and Saturday at home against Chicago, Mitchell followed with a 41-point performance in the win. It was the sixth time this season Mitchell has scored 40 or more points, and it’s a very welcomed sign as for what could be on the horizon.
Throughout the back half of January and the early parts of February, Mitchell didn’t look like normal. He lacked a bit of his usual explosiveness and burst off the dribble as he continued to deal with a nagging groin injury. After missing the game against Detroit last Wednesday night, Mitchell has looked much closer to the guy that was able to carry the Cavaliers at times early in the season.
Aside from the overall scoring output, there are little differences in Mitchell’s game that are noticeable when he’s healthy compared to when he’s not. His jumper is one of the areas that it can really be seen. When he’s feeling healthy, Mitchell explodes off the ground into his shot and seems to get quite a bit of air, especially on 3-pointers. When he’s not healthy, he doesn’t soar as high off the ground on those plays.
One of the other things that has been a staple of his game this season is a quick action off the elbow. He’ll post up his defender and quickly spin past him into the lane. It’s something he’s had quite a bit of success with throughout the season. That isn’t something that has been nonexistent entirely with Mitchell’s groin injury, but it has been pretty rare.
Mitchell missed the layup, but he’s so sudden with that movement that bigger, slower defenders don’t stand a chance. When he’s got that ability, he becomes so much more difficult to stop.
What’s next
The Cavs now are set to square off with the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night on the road. It’s difficult to imagine a bigger way for the team to be sent off to the break on. Entering play, the Cavs trail the Sixers by just one game for the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
It’s the biggest game the Cavaliers have had to date this season.
“I think it's going to be one of those games where we got to be on our A-game. At the end of the day, it's going to be a playoff type atmosphere,” Mitchell said. “We've had a few of this season, but I think this might be one of the bigger ones because it's right before the break because both teams are playing really well and they got a dominant force over there and Joel [Embiid] and James [Harden] and those other guys aren't slouches either. Tyrese [Maxey] can go get it. So we got to be ready, we got to be sharp and we got to lock in.”
A win on Wednesday night would put the Cavs in the third spot in the Eastern Conference and give the Cavs the season tiebreaker, something that could be very important at the end of the season. We’ll have more on the outlook for Wednesday and the rest of the season on Wednesday morning, but there’s little doubt how big of a game this is before the team has a week off for the All-Star break.
