April 24, 2008, LeBron James and his Cavs collapse severely on the Wizards floor: -36 on the clock (108-72). This defeat in the first round of the playoffs was erased from the history books last night. Donovan Mitchell and his team lost by 38 points against the Magic, the worst defeat in the history of the franchise in the playoffs.
At the end of the meeting, the speech of the Cleveland guard echoes that of his coach, JB Bickerstaff: the Floridians set the tone from the start, not them. “ It's a lesson learned about the importance of starting a game and setting the tone. They gave it, we tried to answer and we had difficulty doing so “, notes the coach. Trailing by 10 points after twelve minutes of play, his team exploded in a lost third quarter with a 19-point gap (35-16). And the gap climbed and climbed…
“ I feel like we've reversed the roles. When we were at home, we came with a lot of energy, with a big physical dimension, and they did the same thing with us and we didn't respond right away », Regrets Jarrett Allen, limited to eight rebounds captured, against… 38 in total over the first two games.
Donovan Mitchell also regrets the lack of response from his team in this key rebound battle, largely lost (51-32), including these 14 offensive rebounds which hurt the Cavaliers. “ It's not just the story of the interiors, it's also the backs “, note however the rearlimited to 13 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds last night.
A gap home and away
In addition to the fact that too many open shots were missed by his teammates and him, the former Jazz man believes he was also the victim of two-man shots by the Magic. “ The first two games, they didn't really do it, that's what they did tonight to deprive me of the ball. […] We knew they were going to hit hard, but we have to find a way to score and that starts with me. »
The latter does not seem to want to worry about the size of the final gap. “ The message in the locker room was that it doesn't matter if they win by 60 or by one point, it's just a victory. You don't win twice by winning by more than 20 points, so you have to keep this perspective. In the end, we could have lost by 20 or 40 points, it doesn't matter. It's just a victory “, he says.
After all, the counters will be reset to zero for the 4th round next Saturday. But if the Cavs want to maintain their advantage in the series, they will have to show something else. What JB Bickerstaff calls for.
“ We are capable of doing the little things that have an impact to win. The rebounding game, the '50/50 balls', the physical dimension… All these things that we did at home, that doesn't change because we are away. And that doesn't change because of a match where we weren't able to do it. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Donovan Mitchell | 55 | 35.3 | 46.2 | 36.8 | 86.5 | 0.8 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 6.1 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 26.6 |
| Darius Garland | 57 | 33.3 | 44.6 | 37.1 | 83.4 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 6.5 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 18.0 |
| Jarrett Allen | 77 | 31.7 | 63.4 | 0.0 | 74.2 | 3.2 | 7.4 | 10.5 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 16.5 |
| Evan Mobley | 50 | 30.6 | 58.0 | 37.3 | 71.9 | 2.2 | 7.1 | 9.4 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 15.7 |
| Caris Levert | 68 | 28.8 | 42.1 | 32.5 | 76.6 | 0.6 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 14.0 |
| Max Strus | 70 | 32.0 | 41.8 | 35.1 | 79.4 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 12.2 |
| Isaac Okoro | 69 | 27.3 | 49.0 | 39.1 | 67.9 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 9.4 |
| Georges Niang | 82 | 22.3 | 44.9 | 37.6 | 85.0 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 9.4 |
| Sam Merrill | 61 | 17.5 | 40.2 | 40.4 | 92.9 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 8.0 |
| Marcus Morris | 12 | 15.0 | 44.1 | 41.4 | 62.5 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 5.8 |
| Craig Porter, Jr. | 51 | 12.7 | 50.9 | 35.3 | 73.2 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 5.6 |
| Dean Wade | 54 | 20.5 | 41.4 | 39.1 | 76.9 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 5.4 |
| Tristan Thompson | 49 | 11.2 | 60.8 | 0.0 | 28.8 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 3.6 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 3.3 |
| Damian Jones | 39 | 6.9 | 59.7 | 21.4 | 85.7 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
| Emoni Bates | 15 | 8.9 | 30.6 | 30.3 | 25.0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 2.7 |
| Isaiah Mobley | 10 | 7.2 | 41.7 | 30.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 2.3 |
| Ty Jerome | 2 | 7.4 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Pete Nance | 8 | 3.4 | 16.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
