Even on one of Donovan Mitchell’s most efficient nights, the remaining Cavaliers were unable to provide adequate support losing 93-106.
Mitchell, after struggling in the first few games of the Orlando series, turned a corner in game 6 and has never looked back. In Game 3, that was no different.
Mitchell came out hot early and his shooting never really wavered throughout the night. He was lights out from the perimeter, finishing 7-12 from three.
Games like this feel wasted when one player like Mitchell can find his way to score and can set up others with the gravity generated. Unfortunately, for the most part, those looks were squandered and you have to hope with Mitchell’s recent form that it can linger as the Cavaliers feel like they need Superman to save the remainder of the civilians on the roster.
While one would look at the box score and think, “Hey, Caris LeVert had a good night”, one would have had to watch to know how painful it was to get to those 15 points. LeVert is a guy who plays to the beat of his drum, and when he has it going, that is a benefit to the bench scoring. However, as we saw for two and a half quarters, it was disastrous. LeVert at times, shot before the team was back on transition, forcing 9-1-1 passes to traffic leading to easy transition points, or just heaves up shots when Caris deems it a mismatch.
Between Marcus Morris, Tristan Thompson, and Sam Merrill, there were 0 points on 0 field goal attempts. At times, it felt like the Celtics were just happy Merrill was out there, as he was being hunted in switches for minute-long runs. Morris and Thompson just were allowing Mobley and returnee Dean Wade to rest.
The most aggravating part of the Cavaliers’ Game 3 loss will be that the opportunity was there.
While Mitchell was able to create his looks, a lot of the Cavaliers had the opportunity to convert on some decent shots, but simply failed to do so.
Okoro, who has played well in the postseason for the most part, had good looks from three that weren’t falling. Strus, similarly had some good looks off of actions with Mitchell, where one would hope at some point his shot would get going longer than a quarter of action. Garland remains the biggest offender of this issue as it seems that game after game of this Boston series, he has great looks, and the shots are simply not going in. The process of the attempts has been great for most of the Cavaliers, the issue simply lies in the execution of those looks.
It felt like the Cavaliers were a half-decent shooting night, away from this game playing out differently. They decided to divert their shot portfolio, emphasizing their perimeter shooting and it essentially took them out of the game. By playing into Boston’s style of beating you down with a barrage of threes and pushing the pace in transition, Cleveland will be beating themselves. As we saw in Game 2, when Cleveland mucks up the game and slows it down, its best self emerges.
