Donovan Mitchell expected better of himself in his first career playoff games in his hometown, and he certainly was blunt in the self-assessment of his performance in the Cavaliers’ 102-93 loss Sunday to the Knicks.
“I played like s–t,” Mitchell said after the Knicks grabbed a 3-1 series lead heading back to Cleveland for Game 5.
The Westchester County product and four-time All-Star was smothered by the Knicks in Game 4, limiting him to 11 points on 5-for-18 from the floor with no 3-point makes in four attempts.
“For me specifically they threw a bunch of different things at me and sometimes it’s making the simple play, and trusting your teammates,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t do a good job of that today, I’ll be better. … I’m the leader of this group. Everybody did their job and I didn’t, simple as that and I’ll fix it.
“At the end of the day, I’d say I had probably the second- or third-worst game of my career. I didn’t show up for my guys, ultimately. Everybody did their job, we had our faults as a group, but ultimately, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do and I’ll take that and I got to just be better.”
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After getting traded from the Jazz to the Cavs last summer, Mitchell averaged 31.8 points per game in four appearances against the Knicks, who also had attempted to acquire him.
Since netting 38 points in the series opener, he has been held to 16.7 over the past three games.
With top perimeter defender Quentin Grimes sidelined with a shoulder injury, the Knicks largely turned to fill-in starter Josh Hart to defend against Mitchell, who committed six turnovers for the second consecutive game.
“It’s a full team effort,” Hart said. “The biggest thing with us is we want to make it tough for him, we want to make him see bodies, close driving lanes and force him into taking tough 2s and step-back 3s. We know he’s capable of making those shots, he’s shown in his six years in the league he can make big shots, he can make tough shots, but that’s what we have to do.
“I knew my teammates had my back. When he blew by me, they were able to challenge him at the rim and just make it difficult for him. You know he’s not always going to shoot 5-for-18. We just have to make sure ready in Game 5 for an aggressive Donovan.”
Mitchell added that he has faith in the Cavs coming back from a 3-1 hole beginning with Wednesday’s potential elimination game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
“Take care of home court, it’s not over with,” Mitchell said. “It sucks, the way we lost sucks, but we can’t hang our heads and ultimately give up. We’re not that type of group and like I said we’ll be ready for Game 5.
“We put ourselves in bad positions tonight and ultimately, I didn’t show up for my teammates. Everybody does their job and I didn’t do what I was capable of. It’s on me, but you can’t hang your head, gotta get back home and take care of business.”