The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves on dangerous waters after enjoying a hot start in the 2023-24 season. They lost six of their last ten games, with their most recent loss to the Denver Nuggets being especially painful.
They managed to keep the score close in the first half, but the defending NBA champions managed to put up 15 unanswered points that eventually put the game out of reach for the struggling Cavaliers.
While the team’s star player has not yet fully recovered, he called for the rest of the team to step up to the plate in an epic rant that quickly got explicit.
Donovan Mitchell gets livid over disappointing Cleveland Cavaliers collapse
Mitchell didn’t hold back when it comes to holding his teammates accountable for the late-season slip-ups they’re currently on. While some of them were due to his absence, he didn’t allow any excuses for a team that’s eager to compete for a championship.
Per cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor:
“I told you at the beginning of the season, if we had these struggles at this point then it’s a problem,” Mitchell said, referencing an early-November conversation in Oklahoma City after Cleveland dropped to 3-5. “It can’t happen. I can say all this now. We have to find a way to figure it out. It’s not going to linger after tonight. Have to watch the film and get back to what we do. But it can’t happen. We can all point to s—. It’s April. It’s (expletive) April. We’ve got to figure it out. And we will.”
Mitchell also expects himself to perform better
He didn’t even give himself any leeway, saying that the top target for the Cavaliers this summer should set an example for his teammates:
“No other excuse to it. We’ve got to play better. No other way around it. It’s on all of us. Starts with me. But we have to play better. Simply put. We’ve shown we can do it and that’s what is frustrating.
To be fair to Donovan Mitchell, he’s coming off a six-game stretch where he was sidelined due to a facial fracture. Moreover, the Nuggets and the Philadelphia 76ers aren’t the best teams to face when you’re trying to regain your form.
However, it’s also true that Mitchell is also struggling to perform. In the past two games, he has a mute stat line of 12.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.5 steals on an abysmal 28% shooting.
There’s still two weeks before the regular season comes to an end, but the Cleveland Cavaliers need all hands on deck if they want to regain the three-seed. Thankfully for them, they have a proactive leader who’s willing to do anything to make that happen.
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