CLEVELAND — Beating the version of the Memphis Grizzlies the Cavaliers disposed of on Wednesday night cannot count as a turning point.
This is with all due respect to “I don’t want to get his name wrong, so I’ll call him ‘Jake’” LaRavia, as Donovan Mitchell said, and all the players like LaRavia who were in uniform for Memphis. LaRavia is a borderline rotation player for the Grizzlies, GG Jackson II is a keeper, but otherwise, there were 12 — TWELVE — Memphis men on the injury report. Vacations are being planned in that locker room. Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart … real stars are nowhere to be found with this version of the Grizzlies.
No serious team trying to accomplish what the Cavs are trying to accomplish, at this particular junction of the season, should win a game like this.
“We were playing a little uptight, trying to make sure everything was perfect, and I think that’s when we’re not at our best,” Jarrett Allen said.
The Cavs, supposedly fighting to the last breath to hold onto home-court advantage for a first-round playoff series that seemed like such a sure thing at the All-Star break, trailed by as many as nine and were down three to the Grizzlies at the half. Three days prior, Cleveland blew a 26-point lead in a loss to the LA Clippers that capped a disastrous 1-5 Western Conference road trip.
They got it together and won 110-98, though most of the particulars aren’t important because, when the playoffs arrive or even Friday night when the Cavs (47-33) host the Indiana Pacers (currently one game behind Cleveland for fourth in the Eastern Conference), the intensity, competition and talent from the opponent will be far greater.
The Cavs infamously did not handle the pressure of a first-round playoff series with the New York Knicks well last April, and for more than a month, the NBA’s best team from Dec. 15 to the All-Star break has looked like a shell of its former self.
“Getting toward the end of the season, you know, we lost a couple games in a row. … We want to go into the playoffs with high spirits,” Allen said. “It just happens, it happens to everybody, when something is so right in front of you, you want it so bad and you start getting uptight about it. So we just gotta loosen up.”
There was a development Wednesday, opponent aside, that could kickstart a collective relaxing of mind and spirit in Cleveland: Mitchell moved around a little better and made a few shots.
It’s not just the losing since the All-Star break (the Cavs are 11-16 in that stretch), but it’s how Mitchell has looked, played and been otherwise unavailable. The main culprit has been an injured left knee, and heading into the Grizzlies game, Mitchell had only appeared in nine contests since All-Star weekend and averaged 16.9 points. Lately he has been unable to get by defenders and get to the rim, to say nothing of jumping over anyone for a statement dunk. In the three games he played on the West road trip, he shot 28 percent from 3-point range.
Mitchell’s 29 points on 9-of-17 shooting with five 3s on Wednesday stands as his second-best game since the break (he scored 31 on Feb. 27 against the Dallas Mavericks). He still wasn’t showing his usual speed and explosiveness, but the ball looked better coming out of his hand, the lift on his jumper was higher, and he was getting to more spots on the floor. He was more vocal and animated on the court than he has been in weeks, and he also notched eight assists, three steals, a block and four rebounds.
These of course are positive signs because, as the Cavs have shown lately, they aren’t very good if Mitchell isn’t very good. He was an All-Star this season and top-four in scoring until this recent swoon.
“To me, there is no doubt that he’ll get there,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said in predicting Mitchell will regain his full form before it’s too late. “We’ve got three games in almost 14 days, so he has an opportunity to do some really good work on his body, on the court. We know who Donovan is and what he is capable of.”
The Cavs called Mitchell’s knee injury a bone bruise, but then Bickerstaff described it as a wear-and-tear injury. Mitchell received a regenerative injection, missed seven games, came back for two and looked slow, broke his nose and missed six more — the knee had something to do with the length of absence. Before heading out on the road trip, Mitchell declared he was healthy and his knee had healed, but his performance, and two DNPs he logged, suggested otherwise.
Now, Mitchell said, he’s stuck between managing pain and also rebuilding his confidence that he can make explosive movements without his knee failing him.
“The biggest thing for me is just to continue to build my confidence back up in my body,” Mitchell said. “The biggest cure for this is rest. I don’t have time for that. … I consider myself a pretty mentally strong person, so just being able to find ways to adapt to the situation. I felt really good tonight, and just continue to build on that.”
There is an unofficial count around the Cavs that Mitchell, the 2018 NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion, has registered just one dunk since the break. He was quick to point out that he’s dunking in warm-ups and hasn’t dunked much in games all season. He doesn’t actually have to dribble in traffic, jump over a defender and rock the rim to be effective on the court; the gesture would be more symbolic that more of what Mitchell is capable of when healthy is within reach.
That’s what the Cavs are trying to figure out now, as they jostle for position and hope to come out of the fray with a No. 4 seed at worst, followed by a playoff series win. They were No. 2 in the East in mid-February; now, a sixth seed or even fall into the Play-In is possible.
“We know Donovan is capable of it — I mean, it’s not like it’s going to be world changing for us, like it’s an eclipse,” Allen said of the moment when Mitchell is finally healthy or confident enough to boom one on an opponent.
“We’re talking about it in there, saying that we’re going to find a way, no matter what. No matter what happens, no matter how he’s feeling, we’re going to find a way to make it work.”
(Photo of Donovan Mitchell: Ken Blaze / USA Today)
