Donovan Mitchell’s playoff shortcomings have been well-documented. He has made the postseason every single year of his career, but up until last season, had no conference finals appearances to show for it.
Mitchell finally broke through with the Cavaliers last year, but they got boat raced in embarrassing fashion by the Knicks, including losing by 37 in Game 4.
This year, the team is coming back to take another step in the right direction. With multiple new faces and a bench youth movement that is ready for their moment, the Cavs expect to be in the mix in a loaded Eastern Conference. In order to do that, they must overcome this key thing.
Cleveland must learn from their Game One collapse against New York
Almost four months removed from that game, and the scar still remains. Mitchell called the Cavs’ collapse against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals opener the worst loss of his career.
Cleveland was up 22 in the opening game, less than 48 hours removed from a dominant Game 7 win in Detroit. It was impressive to see the high level of basketball they were playing even with the fact that they had played 11 games in 21 days.
And then it all completely unraveled. The Cavs lost whatever grip they had on that series after that game went down. The Knicks completely dominated the rest of the series and went on to win their first NBA championship in over 50 years.
It is hard to say whether or not Cleveland would have won that series if they were able to hold on and win Game One. No one knows. But, it definitely changed the trajectory of the series. And that cannot happen again for this group.
At times last year, it felt like the Cavs would lose focus in games, which led to giving up big runs and frantic finishes. They did their work early, faltered in the middle, and would have to make up for it in the end. It worked during the regular season, but it backfired at times during the postseason.
If they want to compete in a stacked East, then they are going to have to finish games. If they go up 20, finish the job. Yes, they have new additions, and the rotation has potential to be exciting, but Cleveland needs to be building good habits as well this year.
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