Cavs stranded in Miami, Donovan Mitchell calls for canceling Mavericks game

The Cavs are scheduled to play the Mavericks on Saturday night. First, they have to get home.

A travel disruption kept the team in Miami after Friday’s 133-121 loss to the Heat, leaving the Cavs facing a morning flight ahead of a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at Rocket Arena. According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com⁠, the plan is still to play.

Donovan Mitchell would prefer otherwise.

“Me, personally, yeah for sure,” Mitchell said when asked whether he wanted Saturday’s game canceled, per Fedor.

“This is unprecedented. Back-to-back. Three-hour flight. It was already going to be a tough one. But if they say we have to play then we have to play.”

The revised schedule calls for an 8 a.m. bus ride to the airport and a 9 a.m. departure, Fedor reported. That would put the Cavs home around noon, with a game to prepare for a few hours later.

Back-to-backs already offer little recovery time. This one now includes spending much of game day getting from Miami to Cleveland.

According to Fedor, Friday’s nationwide ground stop stemmed from a communication issue affecting air-traffic control. Departures eventually resumed, but the Cavs couldn’t secure a new pilot until Saturday morning. They were able to return to the same hotel.

The delay adds another complication after a loss to the Heat⁠ in which Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo scored 37 points apiece. The Cavs played without Evan Mobley, Sam Merrill and Nae’Qwan Tomlin.

Now they have to turn their attention to Dallas, with considerably less time at home than expected.

“There’s no feeling sorry for ourselves,” coach Kenny Atkinson said, per Cleveland.com. “It’s part of it. You just adapt. We have to get on that plane in the morning and try to go get this next one.”