Mitchell must have short memory, but Garland must control Cavs Game 5

Welp, just like that, the Cleveland Cavaliers are down 3-1 to the New York Knicks. New York defeated Cleveland 102-93 on Sunday afternoon in Game 4 of the first round series between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the Eastern Conference, and the Cavaliers are on the brink of elimination.

For Cleveland, the Wine and Gold did find their way back into the game, and they were right there in the early-midway in the fourth quarter of the contest. Ultimately, though, the Knicks made some multiple crucial shots down the stretch, and far too often throughout the contest, the Cavaliers were not able to close out possessions nearly enough on either end.

Plays were there to be made for the Cavs, they were not able to secure defensive rebounds or loose balls, unfortunately, and the Knicks had 21 second chance points in the contest.

Offensively, Sunday’s game represented a horror film for Donovan Mitchell as well. Often in the game, he was getting to shots he’s more than capable of hitting, but the results were not there in a huge spot. He shot only five-of-18 from the field, and zero-of-four from three-point range; he had just 11 points.

Mitchell did have five assists in the contest, but he had six turnovers in the game, and several of those were back-breakers on passes that were not there, and led to odd-man opportunities going the other way. Those did not help the Cavaliers start well, either.

For Mitchell, he has to have a short memory, and rest assured, he’s not going to dwell. Cleveland needs him to shake it off leading into Game 5 on Wednesday back at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, and one should expect him to.

A key positive from Sunday, if there was one, most notably was how Darius Garland responded, on the plus side. His strong second half was what we’re referring to, and if he can build off that, and Mitchell get it going, those things can aid Cleveland in their comeback attempt in this series.

Mitchell must move on from his horrendous outing, but Garland’s response for the Cavs was a key positive to take from Game 4. He needs chances to carry that forward.

Mitchell took Sunday’s loss on the chin, based on his comments postgame in media availability. He knows he needs to be far better for the Cavaliers to have a chance at making a comeback in this series, and that has to start in Game 5 back in Cleveland on Wednesday.

The Knicks deserve credit for Mitchell being off, to some degree, and their effort on both ends was a constant. But plenty of those were just misses for Mitchell on shots he cans, so one can be somewhat hopeful he can get back to being a star-level shot-maker and driver.

That being said, even despite his first half woes, it was a bit odd when Garland was moved more so off-ball in the fourth quarter, based on his third quarter play. Garland had just two points on one-of-five shooting and was limited to only playing 13 minutes in the first half on Sunday, because he had three fouls in that span.

However, he came out ultra-aggressive in the third quarter, and led the Cavaliers to taking the lead early on then. In the third period, Garland had 11 points on five-of-seven shooting, to go with five assists, and he was the biggest reason for Cleveland giving themselves a great chance to tie the series up 2-2 heading back to Cleveland.

The Cavaliers were down by two going into the fourth quarter, before the Knicks regained control, and made hustle play after hustle play in the mid-to-late stages of that deciding period, as they outscored by the Cavs 29-22 in the fourth.

For Cleveland, Garland should have plenty of chances to carry his second half forward in Game 5, and hopefully onward. In that fourth quarter on Sunday, he did have 10 points and two assists, and should’ve had more opportunities to initiate, with Mitchell being way off, and being too indecisive on Sunday.

This isn’t absolving Garland for his Game 3 disaster, but when he has it going, the other guys can clearly feed off that, and it’s not as if Mitchell isn’t capable of getting rolling in a hurry. Mitchell was just way off on Sunday, and is not quite the level of passer Garland is, even though he is a good one.

For Cleveland, Garland needs chances to keep the momentum going before it’s too late in an elimination Game 5. Of course, Mitchell will still have his looks. The Cavaliers simply need to have Garland at the controls more, as he’s gradually handled traps better as the series has progressed, and has still found ways to get others quality looks, even with the shots not necessarily falling.