The Cleveland Cavaliers continue to take one step forward and two steps back. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland wasted little time pinpointing the most maddening characteristic of the Cavs after their disheartening 99-94 loss to a Golden State Warriors team that was down nine players.
“We get down, and then we start playing,” Mitchell said in the locker room postgame. “There’s no switch to flip. Until there's a change in that, we're going to keep being in these positions where sometimes we do, sometimes we don't, and we have to fix it. Until we decide on a consistent basis to be that group, we're going to run into inconsistency… yeah.”
“Gotta play hard for 48 minutes,” Garland added. “Play with some intensity. Play with some energy.”
While Mitchell credited the short-handed Warriors — particularly Pat Spencer and Quinten Post — for coming to play down bodies, he knows the wine and gold have to be better.
“We’re gonna figure it out one day,” Mitchell said, exasperated. “Can't keep getting in this position. Shouldn't come down to it. All the things we've done and shown, we do it in spurts, and that's what's rough. We just have to figure out how to go out there on a consistent basis.”
Mitchell pointed out how the Cavs closed the half and started the third quarter, which gave Golden State confidence. That's not the first time that's happened.
Remember, too, that this is a Cleveland bunch that just scored 130 points in a win over the San Antonio Spurs the night before, only to put up 94 points on a putrid 37-of-107 shooting performance from the field the next contest. Outside of Mitchell, the wine and gold went 3 of 28 from long distance.
“I mean, it's deflating when you're missing shots. Like, it's deflating,” Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I don't know who would be joyful in that situation. It's just tough. I think we kept it together on the bench and [were] encouraging and [saying] keep competing. We had [24] offensive rebounds. I know a lot of that is 'cause we missed a lot of shots, but I thought, ‘We're trying, we're fighting.' It's like, we could not get over the hump.
The most perplexing aspect of this particular game was how the Cavs outrebounded Golden State by 15 and also got as many shots in the paint as they did Friday. The problem is that they made 28% below their expected field goal percentage on those easy looks.
“I'm not going to fault our effort or our spirit or any of that,” Atkinson said. “Name of the game is putting the ball in the basket at the end of the day… Got to put it in the hole.”
Even with a better offensive process and despite holding Golden State under 100 points on 38.4% shooting, the consensus takeaway was that the defense still needed improvement.
“It's coming together, but it’s the opposite side of the ball for us,” Garland said. “Gotta bring some energy on that side of the ball. I guess it's difficult for us. Gotta talk a little bit more, bring some energy on the defensive side of the ball.”
Mitchell believes that it starts with better communication, intensity, getting on the glass, and running the fastbreak. Garland feels like it's as simple as energy, spirit, and “a will.”
“When you're not making shots like that, you've gotta get more stops,” Atkinson said. ” It was okay-to-good, but it wasn't great. We had a fair amount of breakdowns. We're going for shot fakes at the rim. They weren't effort things. They were more like focus, cognitive-like mishaps. So, we had to be more perfect on defense than we were.”
After splitting their weekend back-to-back, the Cavs will have until Friday to regroup before their matchup with the Washington Wizards in D.C. Sporting a middling 14-11 record, that may be what the doctor ordered.
“It’s a reset, obviously,” Mitchell said. “When we come back, we've gotta be rocking and ready to go.”
“It's fixable,” Garland added. “Get some rest. Get in the gym. Create some energy for next game.”
Atkinson senses that Cleveland needs this kind of break to exhale and get some practice time.
“Schedule is gonna ease up, and we'll get back on track,” Atkinson said. “But this is a good reset. It gives us time to get some guys healthy, right? Anytime you can buy days in the NBA, guys can heal up a little bit.”
“Use these four days and get better,” Mitchell added. “That's it.”
