Cavs Offense Goes Cold…AGAIN!
Game 4 was a must-win game for the Cavs and they dropped the ball. Their offense had gone cold once again. The same routine continues from Game 3. Donovan Mitchell had an off-game. I’ll repeat it. Donovan Mitchell had an OFF GAME. He didn’t show up and it was unbelievable to witness. Mitchell is a big-time playoff performer. The Cavs needed him to have a big game. Cavs lost 102-93 to the Knicks.
We understand that Mitchell has been carrying the load, but that’s the responsibility of being the star player on your team. He scored 11 points and shot 5-for-18 from the field in 41 minutes. Those are surprising numbers from their best player. That kind of production won’t get it done in the playoffs. You can’t have more turnovers than field goals.
Cavs’ best performance came in the third quarter. Darius Garland had some nice plays making shots and facilitating as well. He had a good third quarter. Garland led the Cavs with 23 points in the game. He didn’t have a strong performance either, but he did some things right for the Cavs.
The Cavs got outrebounded in this game 47-33. The Knicks kept taking advantage of second-chance points. Jalen Brunson was on fire. The Cavs didn’t have an answer for him. Brunson led the Knicks with 29 points—another stellar performance from him. RJ Barrett had the best performance of the series by adding 26 points. Josh Hart scored 19 points off the bench, which provided a lot of boost for the Knicks. Mitchell Robinson added 12 points with 11 rebounds. The Villanova kids (Brunson and Hart) were getting the job done in the Garden. Julius Randle got benched in the fourth quarter because he wasn’t playing well.
The series goes back to Cleveland for Game 5. The Cavs are trying to stay away from elimination, and this is their last chance to gain any momentum in the series. We didn’t see it coming that the Knicks were going to be m up 3-1 in the series. It’s either we will get a Game 2 caliber performance, or the Cavs will continue to have an abysmal performance for three consecutive games. We shall see on Wednesday night.
