The Cavs aren’t going anywhere if Donovan Mitchell can’t get to the basket

Anything bought from the links helps support *Fear the Sword*. You can buy the Mark Price shirt HERE. You can also shop all of Homage’s Cavs gear HERE. You can get to the line without getting to the rim. James Harden did an excellent job of this in Game 1 as he had nine free-throw attempts. But you still have to be intentional about how you attack for that to happen. Harden, even though he’s lost a step, isn’t afraid to initiate contact and be the aggressor. That, more than anything, is why he’s consistently gotten to the line throughout his career. Not getting to the rim or basket is also reflective of the Cavs’ lack of spacing overall. Cleveland’s defense needs the trio of Dean Wade, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen (or at least Wade and Allen) to be passable. Having two or three players that teams are okay with ignoring on the perimeter clogs driving lanes and leads to turnover issues. At the same time, there’s no getting around that in matchups against wing-heavy teams. They need their oversized frontcourt out there to be competitive. The Cavs are just gambling that their star backcourt can figure things out enough offensively. So far, they haven’t been able to, at least not consistently. This has all resulted in what has been a disappointing postseason run for Mitchell. The scoring hasn’t been there in either volume or efficiency. He currently has his second-lowest points per game in his playoff career (23.1) on his second-lowest efficiency since coming to Cleveland (49.5 effective field-goal percentage). That has laid bare some of the other flaws in his game. If Mitchell isn’t scoring, his lack of ability as a rebounder, defender, or playmaker means he’s simply not positively impacting winning. As a result, the Cavs have been -3.2 points per 100 possessions better in the playoffs when he’s off the court compared to when he’s on. That’s the complete opposite of what we’ve seen from Mitchell since his time in Cleveland. There are many reasons why the Cavs went seven games against a less talented Toronto Raptors team and dropped Game 1 against Detroit. However, none more than the fact that Mitchell can’t get to the basket and, by extension, the line like we’ve come to expect. If he’s not doing that, the scoring isn’t going to be at the volume or efficiency this team needs, even if these issues aren’t entirely his fault. If Mitchell or the team can’t figure out how to get him easy looks inside, the offseason will be here far too early for the Cavs. This team can’t survive Mitchell not playing as an All-NBA level scorer.