Donovan Mitchell, Cavs own late execution issues after Knicks loss

The play was there. The moment was there. And on Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden, the Cavaliers let it slip.

With 1:45 left in regulation, Donovan Mitchell leaked out after a stop and caught an outlet pass from Darius Garland with nothing but open floor in front of him. A simple layup would have put Cleveland up three and shifted the pressure squarely onto the Knicks.

Instead, Mitchell slowed to gather for a two-handed dunk. That pause was just enough for Knicks guard Tyler Kolek to recover and make a game-changing play from behind.

“I didn’t see him,” Mitchell told reporters afterward. “I don’t slow up unless there is nobody around. It’s a credit to him. Hell of a play. That’s winning basketball. I knew it wasn’t a foul as soon as they called it.”

The Cavaliers came up empty on the possession. Moments later, the Knicks regained the lead and never gave it back.

“Lay it up, Don,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said bluntly. “Lay it in off one foot. He knows. There were a couple frustrating plays like that.”

Those moments added up. Cleveland blew a 17-point lead and fell 126-124, another gut punch in a season full of near-misses and unfinished games.

“I wish I could be up here and say we won this game,” Atkinson said. “But you feel it as a coach. I couldn’t be more encouraged. Disappointed in how we lost, but buy the dip. I’ve got a ton of confidence in this group.”

The Cavaliers dropped to 17-15, sitting seventh in the Eastern Conference after finishing with the league’s best record a season ago. If the season ended now, Cleveland would be headed for the play-in tournament for the first time in the Mitchell era.

For Atkinson, the issue goes beyond physicality.

“I think it starts with mentality,” he said. “It’s mental focus. Are you seeing your man? Are you crashing? Are you getting a hit first? Those are focus plays.”

Until those moments are cleaned up, the Cavs remain stuck between progress and regression. And if that continues, the pressure will only increase on the long-term future of the so-called Core Four of Mitchell, Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.