Donovan Mitchell thinks he knows why the Cavaliers keep getting dragged into these frantic finishes: the pressure they’re seeing isn’t arriving in neat, predictable packages.
After Cleveland’s win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, Mitchell pointed to defenses picking up the ball full court and throwing in surprise traps, the kind of chaos that can scramble an offense before it settles in.
“There’s an unpredictability to it,” Mitchell said. “I think it’s random.
The NBA has turned into that as a whole. Indiana really did a great job of it two years ago, and I think everybody followed suit.
It was just like, just cause chaos and figure it out. … When you’re picking up full court and randomly trapping, there’s really no scheme for that.
It’s like AAU basketball.”
The Cavaliers still survived, 125-121, but they did it after nearly coughing up a huge cushion. Cleveland was ahead 104-82 with 9:29 left, then had to hang on late as Brooklyn kept coming.
That kind of finish puts Mitchell’s point under a spotlight. Once the second defender shows up, the offense has to have an immediate answer - an outlet, a clean read, the next pass. If it doesn’t, the trap can swallow the possession before the shot even materializes.
The late-game numbers told the story of how messy things got. With 26.4 seconds left, Cleveland had already committed eight fourth-quarter turnovers, and Peyton Watson had fouled out on an illegal screen as the lead shrank to four.
Not every turnover is the same, and that’s part of the challenge. An offensive foul and a pass picked off in a trap both erase a possession, but they don’t always point to the same fix.
Still, the volume was the problem in that stretch.
The margin narrowed even further when Michael Porter Jr. hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 123-121 with 8.1 seconds left. Sam Merrill answered with two free throws with 5.2 seconds to go, pushing the lead back to four and helping Cleveland close it out.
The Cavaliers had already taken criticism for their opening-night collapse from Charles Barkley, so Saturday’s game gave them another example of the same issue to sort through. Mitchell made clear what he sees: the pressure is coming from everywhere, and it’s designed to force confusion.
Coach Atkinson said the turnover battle has to improve.
“We lost the possession game by 16,” Atkinson said. “We got to clean up the turnovers.”
One answer is to get a teammate involved before the trap fully closes, turning the pressure into an opportunity for the offense to attack the open space. If two defenders chase Mitchell, the next man up can become the release valve and the playmaker.
But that move comes with a cost if the spacing gets cramped. Pulling another player toward the ball can tighten the floor, which means the receiver has to be ready to keep the ball moving instead of stopping the action.
That’s why this is more than a question of how many points Mitchell scores. It’s about whether Cleveland can turn extra defensive attention into a cleaner possession on the other end.
Two games don’t settle whether this is a larger roster problem. They do give the Cavs a clear set of situations to clean up.
The next test will be simple enough to spot: when the pressure comes, how quickly does Cleveland find the escape hatch, and does that first pass lead to something controlled? Saturday ended with a win, but not with the issue solved.
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