Cavs lament ‘droughts’ after 10-point 3rd quarter

ORLANDO, Fla. — Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell has noticed a trend through four games of the first-round series against the Orlando Magic.

In the first half, he’s on. But in the second half, he’s off. In Game 4, he failed to register a point in the final two quarters. His team scored just 10 in the third and 19 in the fourth, sealing their 112-89 loss on Saturday.

“You can’t have a drought like that,” Mitchell said. “It starts with me. I didn’t score in the second half. I’ve been starting second halves like that all series. Ten points is outrageous. We have to be better. I have to be better. I’m disappointed in myself and I’ll be better.”

Just three games ago following the Cavs’ Game 1 victory, in which Mitchell scored 30 points, he proclaimed, “This is who I am.” But ever since, he has struggled. And as he noted, especially in second halves.

In the first half of Game 4, Mitchell put up 18 points and scored or assisted on 28 of the Cavs’ 60 points. His scoreless second half was the first for Mitchell in any of his career playoff games. He assisted on just three points.

When Jalen Suggs was the primary defender in Game 4, Mitchell went 1-of-6 with three turnovers.

Mitchell couldn’t pinpoint what led to the decline in production. When asked if there’s something that’s leading to him not performing well, he said, “No.”

To fix it, Mitchell said he had to, “Watch film and be better.”

“As much as the success I get, I deserve the criticism too,” Mitchell said. “I hold myself to that.”

The Cavaliers’ offensive woes stretch beyond Mitchell. They shot 47.2% from the floor on Saturday but were just 4-of-17 (23.5%) from 3. Cleveland’s bench was outscored 43-15.

Dating to last year’s postseason, the Cavs have failed to register 100 points in seven consecutive playoff games. The Cavs are the second team that hasn’t scored 100 in four straight playoff games in a single series since the Magic in 2019.

Everything changed in the third quarter. The Cavaliers held a nine-point halftime lead, but a 17-7 Magic run in the first few minutes out of the break made that evaporate.

Midway through the period, Suggs and Darius Garland were assessed double technicals, and after the ensuing timeout, Wendell Carter Jr. hit back-to-back 3s to put Orlando up by seven. That’s when the Magic forced a momentum shift.

There have been a few times in this series when the Magic have thrived on the level of chippiness and physicality between the two teams.

The Magic closed the last 5½ minutes of the third on a 14-0 surge.

“They came together as a team and we were trying to do it individually, and we can’t do that, especially at this point in the season,” Garland said. “They’re not doing nothing special at all.”

The message the Cavaliers kept conveying after the loss was that their two losses in Orlando boiled down to the Magic protecting their home court. It’s what they did in Cleveland, as well.

Now, as the series shifts back to Ohio, the Cavs believe it’s their best opportunity to regain control.

“It’s 2-2. You give credit where credit is due. They handled their business at home. That’s it,” Mitchell said. “It’s upsetting we didn’t respond, but we’ll find a way to do it at the crib like we did the first two games. Or else we will be home early. But they did for two games. We did it for two games. It’s best of three now.”

Source: www.espn.com