Cavaliers standout for slate of games from Nov. 8-13

In their past week of games, the Cleveland Cavaliers slipped up. They went 0-4, and haven’t looked too impressive.

Their defensive rating was a 125.5 since Nov. 9, with the last three games in that span in mind there, which isn’t very great to say the least. Their offense was solid, however, putting up a 119.6 offensive rating in the 3 losses, of which we’ll be taking a closer look at here (we touched on the LA Clippers loss earlier last week). They lost by 7 to both the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors, then 5 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Currently, the Cavs are 8-5, and on a 4-game losing streak. There isn’t really any good excuse on why Cleveland has lost.

Injuries? Well in this past week’s slate, not necessarily, as most players were healthy in those outings. Chemistry? Perhaps a bit, but that’s a bit of a stretch I believe. The only thing I can really think of is the lack of communication at times, and some of that has been some lack of ball movement in stretches. Granted, their defensive effort hasn’t been spectacular, and I think J.B. Bickerstaff sees that.

However, this is not a rant on the Cavs’ losing streak. This is about the standout player for the Cavaliers in their past slate of games from Nov. 8-13. Usually, there would be a clear-cut player that I would usually give this award to. The first week was Cedi Osman, for exceeding my expectations, and the 2nd and then the 3rd weeks have gone to Donovan Mitchell.

Personally, I find this week difficult to give a Player of the Week to, as multiple players have reasons for and against being the standout player this week. But, I chose to give this award to Donovan Mitchell.

For their slate of contests from Nov. 8-13, I have to go with Mitchell for the Cavaliers standout.

It was a close call between Darius Garland and Mitchell, since Mitchell only played 2 games out of the 3 games were factoring in here (the Clippers game was again part of last week’s feature). However, Garland only shot 37.3% from the field in those 3 games, but shot a terrific 50% from deep, thanks to his explosion on Sunday. He also averaged 7.3 assists per game, which is solid.

I want to give this award to Garland, but the games against Sacramento and Golden State weren’t as good as I’m sure he would’ve liked. He did drop a career-best 51 points against Minnesota, which makes me want to give the award to Garland. But just because someone has one really good game doesn’t mean that I should give the award to him. Because of this, Donovan Mitchell earns the award for this latest slate.

Mitchell averaged 33.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists in two games, while shooting 54.2/37.5/100 splits. He also had an offensive rating 130.5, which is tremendous, but only for two games. His defensive rating wasn’t as good as it has been in previous weeks, putting up a defensive rating of 118.8 in his past two games.

Maybe if Mitchell played against Minnesota, the Cavs would’ve won that game. Mitchell still has been a consistent leader and is, in my opinion, the Cavaliers’ best player.

His plus-minus was a minus-1 in his two games, which isn’t great, considering his total plus-minus this season is a plus-78. Even still, with what he provided in those contests, I had to go with him as the standout once again, as his shot-making has been invaluable, and he’s carried Cleveland on a number of occasions already.

Mitchell is currently questionable heading into Wednesday’s game at the Milwaukee Bucks with an ankle strain, but either way, hopefully he’s back soon.