The Cleveland Cavaliers have the second-best record in the NBA at 56-14. However, for a team with multiple 15+ game win streaks just this season alone, they look very vulnerable right now. Their last four games, all of against playoff contenders, have been losses.<\/p>\n
Over their past four games, the Cavaliers have allowed three teams to score at least 123 points, despite holding opponents to 112.2 points per game this season. Three of those teams have also won the rebounding battle against them. Additionally, every team they\u2019ve faced has had a player score at least 24 points against them, with Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard<\/a> recording his season-high of 33 points and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant<\/a> dropping 42 points (with a season-high of 43 points).<\/p>\n Suffice it to say, Cleveland\u2019s problems extend far beyond Donovan Mitchell<\/a>. However, as the team leader, he\u2019ll shoulder the blame:<\/p>\n \u201cPut this on me<\/a>,\u201d Mitchell says, per cleveland.com\u2019s Chris Fedor. \u201cWhen your leader ain\u2019t doing [expletive], this is what happens. If I\u2019m not being who I need to be then we\u2019re not going to get to where we want to get to. So, until that happens \u2014 and it will \u2014 yeah, if you\u2019re looking for where to point, it\u2019s right here.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitchell\u2019s message is admirable.<\/p>\n Darius Garland<\/a>, Evan Mobley<\/a>, and Jarrett Allen<\/a> have been recognized on a national scale by this point. None of them are as established as Mitchell, a six-time All-Star who rose to fame with the Utah Jazz in the late 2010s. He\u2019s been the face of the franchise ever since the Jazz traded him to the Cavs in exchange for Collin Sexton<\/a>, Lauri Markkanen<\/a>, Ochai Agbaji<\/a>, and five<\/em> first-round picks.<\/p>\n As a result, he\u2019s always been the de facto leader of the team. Largely because of his confidence and success, he\u2019s been able to be the locker room leader. The respect he\u2019s earned with his play and intelligence makes him a leader within the Cavs organization.<\/p>\n Like a good head coach, he has to take responsibility for his struggles and that of his teammates. It simply comes with the territory.<\/p>\n That being said, Mitchell\u2019s play really has been a problem, and he knows that as much as anyone.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been like this for the past four games, and we\u2019ve lost four straight,\u201d Mitchell says. \u201cI have to be better. Simple as that. We have to guard better. We have to rebound. **** all that. It\u2019s on me. I have to be better for the group. I\u2019ve been good for the group all year. But this is on me. There really is nowhere else to look. I will be better.\u201c<\/p>\n Over the last four games, the 28-year-old has averaged 18.5 points per contest, shooting a paltry 29.6 percent from the field and 16.2 percent from 3. When they faced the Suns on Friday, he scored just seven points, his lowest total since early 2023.<\/p>\n The snow has melted in Northeast Ohio but he\u2019s cold. Credit has to be given to the Cavs\u2019 opponents, teams like the Clippers and Orlando Magic possessing rangy and athletic point-of-attack defenders. However, much of the issue comes down to Mitchell\u2019s shot-selection. Whether he\u2019s driving or pulling up, he\u2019s simply taking a lot of tough ones.<\/p>\n This is where Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson needs to step up to the plate, getting his captain some easier attempts. With that in mind, as much as Mitchell\u2019s message can be respected, it\u2019s not nearly as important as his follow through.<\/p>\n \u00a9 Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Cleveland Cavaliers have the second-best record in the NBA at 56-14. However, for a team with multiple 15+ game win streaks just this season alone, they look very vulnerable right now. Their last four games, all of against playoff contenders, have been losses. Actions More Important Than Words For Cavs Leaders Over their past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":130134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1608,62,3],"tags":[900],"class_list":["post-130133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavaliers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-donovan-mitchell"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130135,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130133\/revisions\/130135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}It Comes With The Territory<\/h3>\n
Making Life Easier<\/h3>\n