Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell scored a season-low seven points on 2-for-18 shooting in a 123-112 loss against the Phoenix Suns on Friday. After the loss, the All-Star guard blamed himself.
“Put this on me,” Mitchell told reporters. “When your leader ain’t doing shit, this is what happens. Yeah, we have to guard better, rebound, shit like that. But if I’m not being who I need to be, then we’re not going to get to where we want to get to.”
The Cavs are first in the East and 56-14 on the season, and, until recently, appeared to be cruising toward the end of the regular season. A week before the loss in Phoenix, they extended their winning streak to a franchise-record 16 games. They’ve now dropped four in a row, though, and Mitchell has been uncharacteristically inefficient lately.
“It’s been like this for the past four games, and we’ve lost four straight,” Mitchell said. “I have to be better, simple as that. You can point to all these different things, yeah: KD having 30-whatever, we gave him some — f— all that, it’s on me. I have to be better for the group. I’ve been good for the group all year, and this is on me.”