After establishing a remarkable campaign, the Cleveland Cavaliers now find themselves in unfamiliar territory.
Upon marking a historic win streak that left them clear the top of the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers have run into trouble.
They are currently enduring a four-game losing streak since a red-hot run of securing 16 consecutive victories.
Their March 21 road matchup against the Phoenix Suns sent them crashing even harder, as Kevin Durant erupted with 42 points to beat them 123-112.
Cavs losing for an extended stretch is peculiar as they have been atop the league leaderboards all season long alongside the Oklahoma City Thunder and the reigning champion Boston Celtics.
One significant aspect of their ongoing downslide has been Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell, the Cavs’ franchise star and undisputed No. 1, has been on a slump since their losing streak began. In the past four games, he is averaging 18.5 points with just 29.6 percent shooting (16.2 percent from three).
Against the Suns, he showcased perhaps his worst game ever as a Cavalier, dropping a lowly 7-point output while going 2-of-18 from the field.
Right at his postgame presser, Mitchell was blunt in addressing his personal struggles that severely impacted the Cavs.
“It’s been like this for the past four games and we’ve lost four straight. I have to be better,” Mitchell said. “Simple as that.
“You can point to all these different things like KD having 30 or whatever we gave him. That’s on me. I have to be better for the group.
“I’ve been good for the group all year, and this is on me.”
Mitchell has been the leading force of the Cavaliers’ emergence this season. He was averaging 24.2 points in 45.1 percent shooting to go with 4.8 assists and 4.3 boards before the horrible outings began for Cleveland.
The Cavaliers are shouldering an immense pressure after all of the success they have enjoyed this regular season. How they end 2024-25 certainly swings around Mitchell’s performance as the team’s lead man. One analyst named him as the player who is under the most pressure heading to the NBA Playoffs.
As Mitchell has taken the blame, Kenny Atkinson meanwhile argued that the entire group must rally behind their franchise star.
“He’s been batting .400. … You’re just going to have moments like this during the season,” the Cavs mentor said.
“We’ve been running them hard. It’s third game in four nights and this is the reality of the NBA. Even the great ones, I’ve seen it happen to KD, I’ve seen it happen to Book. It’s just part of it.
“In these moments, I feel we got to lift him up. We need people to come and help him and again that’s what I did like about the bench. And that’s why we went to it early. We had to find some juice and some energy somewhere else.
“We can’t expect him every single night to have Don, you know? Do that. He’s there 98 percent of the time and we’ll take that.”
Mitchell and the Cavaliers will try to get themselves back on track this March 23 as their road trip continues, facing the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.
