Donovan Mitchell | Cavs vs Clippers Post Game | 1.29.2024

Donovan Mitchell | Cavs vs Clippers Post Game | 1.29.2024

Hey Don you you guys have been so confident that even when Evan comes back when Darius comes back and the Personnel is different than what it has been during this stretch that you can play the same kind of style and you can have the same kind of success why was that

And what does Tonight Show you guys of anything um I don’t I’m not going to be a I don’t mean to come off as a wise ass when I say this but that we kind of know what we’re talking about you know what I’m saying

Um I just feel like we’ve seen it like you know we’ve seen it especially like camp Camp beginning of the year like before the injuries started to you know kind of come about we seen we we saw it like so many different times and and throughout camp and I think that was the

Biggest thing we’ve seen it work we’ve seen it you know translate now it’s starting to come to light you know obviously it’s it’s com in different forms whether it’s me being out for five games then it’s you know EV then it’s DG then it’s Caris like you know then you

See Sam come about you see Craig you know emerge you see like you see from so many different ways and now you’re going to I think you’re going to continuously see it as guys come back but I think that’s been the reason why we’re so confident about it it’ll take some

Adjustments you know I mean obviously things aren’t just going to click seamlessly but things are going to you know head the way because we have so many different guys that can do different things you know but when you lose two guys like EV and DG um for guys

To step up one but also understand that like when they come back you know you know I think that speaks to the character and the locker room Vib is understanding that when guys come back like those minutes aren’t going to be the same but understanding that when

Your time is called you know to be ready you know not like tonight samel plays 7 Minutes who knows what that happens you know the next game but being okay and being ready when your when your time is called I think is the biggest thing have you allowed yourself to start

Envisioning with darius’s return on the horizon what you guys can become full strength and if so what does that look like to you I think I think with with DG I think it’s it’s even more seamless because what we’ve the way we’ve been playing fits him like you know what I’m

Saying he’s a guy who can get up get downhill create you know shoot off the catch um you know I think that’s you know a no-brainer just because of his abilities and his his style of play you know what I mean I think one thing we’ll definitely miss we’ve missed is the the

Law passes that’s for sure he’s definitely better at that than I am but you know definitely finding ways to you know just continue to create and and get open shots and that’s his game you know what I mean so I don’t think that’ll be tough at all I think it’ be somethingone

That’s if anything it it’s more gravity you know going that way so there’ll be more shots more open shots and more open the lanes to drive and and find ways to get there Jackson uh so this might have been your last game as the starting point guard um what have you really

Learned about your game and how have you developed in this time I’m going to say what I said before that you know what I work on is you know um you know basically just come to fruition like you know our biggest thing is I’ve I’ve been doing this you know in

Spurts you know so I think now it’s just the continuous work that I’ve put in um you know it’s showing you know what I mean but at the end of the day I’m ready for whatever it’s called you know that’s kind of my job as as the guy to be able

To do whatever it takes on a nightly basis um and you know very welcome when DJ comes back because you know it’s it’s tough not going to lie it’s it’s it’s it’s tough It’s fun but it’s also it’s you know it’s a lot of work and I’ve put

The time in and put the work in and my teammates trust me my teammates make plays uh make my life easier too you know so when you have a guy like DG come back you know man I’m I’m excited for that just because you know I’ve not only

Have I grown but he’s going to continue to do what he does and now you add that you know that two-headed monster on the offensive end you know I think it’ll be something that you know be very tough to defend so you kind of just said it was a

Little tougher like what about just from a fatigue standpoint you get tired when you have to do you know you dominate the ball as much you know and that’s just something that this is probably one of the longer stretches you know I’ve done it in playoff series before but you know

I think this one of the longer stretches but what’s made it easier um is being able to just you know Outlet the ball have a ball come back quick swing like thinking the game in that way and also that just allows you to think the game from a whole different perspective so

Even when you know I do move back to the two it’s the same thing it’s like cool get off it quick now the next guy attacks downhill they help now it’s a swing swing like there’s so many different ways than just being like the guy who walks it up the floor and kind

Of goes about it so it’s taught me and and shown me a lot of things that I’ve seen on film that I think I’ve allowed to implement in my game and I think just from a from a fatigue standpoint I think when I say tough that’s probably the toughest

Part it’s just getting used to that but you know I’ve been doing it for a while so I think I’m pretty used to it now but you know I think that’s probably the one of the tougher Parts is being able to you know consistently on a nightly basis do

That when you’re able to close out a tough physical game like that as a team what do you take away from that moving forward into the next game how do you feed off of this kind of I think the biggest thing we got stops um we executed down the stretch we had some

Things that will clean up you know in the late I think 5 53 8ish um starting with the two free throws that I missed um but you know understanding that that what we saw tonight is probably probably was will be what we see you know in the

Playoffs you know kind of sometimes a small ball sometimes stagnant you know being able to create and get more continue to get Motion in those moments and we were able to do that um we made plays down the stretch and in defensively made plays got rebounds um

You got guys like Russell Westbook um Paul George whoever’s down there just trying to fight for rebounds while they know the guys like a kawh Lander is going to shoot the ball so you know kind of having those different things in those moments you know as in these games

Um you know continue to build on those because that’s what ultimately we’re going to see um come April and May have you seen gr as a team in that from even last season this one yeah I think you know understanding each other a little bit better um having I think the biggest

Thing is also the rebounds like you look at Jared Allen like what he was able to do especially late like grabbing those rebounds not losing them not even though they’re it’s probably getting foul but they’re not calling them you know what I mean so understanding that that’s what

It’s going to take that type of effort on a nto night basis going to be what what it takes to win Daman you mentioned in the Lo room briefly about how good Isaac’s been on the defensive end can you expand on that and why you think he should be all NBA

First team yeah I think he’s he he takes the challenge every night you know why he’s there you know it’s kind of one of those things um he has like his own coverages like it’s like you know he does his his own thing and we let him

Just because we know he’s going to you know dominate you know his match up every night you know I think and that’s something that doesn’t really it’s not spoken about which it kind of pisses me off that it’s not spoken about just because he’s a guy that that’s that’s

What he does and he deserves a lot more credit we give we give credit to the two bigs as we should you know they they are phenomenal you know what they do but I think a guy like Isaac aoro we pay attention to and even like tonight he

Goes three for four from three-point line but we pay attention to oh maybe he can’t shoot maybe he can’t knock down a shot but we forget what he’s really good at and he lead at and I think that’s kind of what the mainstream thing is to

Kind of not think about you know what he does really well and you look at what he’s doing on night toight basis and making it tough on guys uh continuously and it doesn’t matter who it is you know what I mean and being able to understand that sometimes not get the shots that

You that he ultimately wants and still be able to put effort in defensively still go out there on a night toight basis knowing that his job is going to impact us in a winning way that probably won’t get talked about which is unfortunate which is why I’m so heavy on

That he deserves a recognition because this is what you’re four year for in the league and I’ve seen the growth in just a year um that he’s that I’ve been around him you know what I mean so he’s one of the tougher guys in the league to

To go at you know it’s not no easy night and he’s showing that on a consistent basis and it definitely needs to be talked about why you’ve been Jared Allen as an Allstar you’ve talked about that you’ve talked about Isaac being the accolades and the recognition why has it

Been important for you to be not only supportive but a leader in that way and getting that those narratives out there well I feel like the easy thing to point to is oh c are winning cuz d that’s not the case you know what I mean I think that’s the

Easy thing for people to say who don’t watch us play you know you look at on a night toight basis like I said I give like Sam Marl been phenomenal Craig Porter been phenomenal Jared Allen Isaac cor like it’s not just myself it’s not just DG you know it’s not just EV like

There’s so many guys that make up you know what we’ve been able to do and I think for me it’s important as a leader just because I feel like one people listen to what I say and I think it’s something that will get talked about and

Also that I think they deserve to be talked about they deserve they put the work and they put the time in and they’re showing it on a consistent basis you know they’ve shown it when we’ve lost 36 points and however however many rebounds and assists with DG and have

Like you know a guy like Isaac cor goes five or 10 from the field three or four from three makes all his free throws has 17 points and you know holds a different matchups I don’t know what the numbers are but like you know like that’s that’s impressive against a team like the

Clippers who have been phenomenal you know what I mean does the same thing against the bucks with with Dame like he’s these aren’t just like teams that everybody expects us to be these are teams that are Championship caliber teams and he’s doing this against guys who are top 75 players Hall of Famers

Whatever you want to call them um and I think that’s just been why I feel like you know I have to say it cuz I feel like those guys won’t say it about themselves I respect that about them but ultimately they deserve recognition for the work they’ve been doing last

Two um do obviously you’d rather have Darius and and Evan out there with you but uh JB talked about you know Evan kind of embracing the injury as like there’s a silver lining in it you guys have kind of found this identity with yourself some other guys that were more

Role players and merged just what was was there a silver lining that you guys found on the opposite side of it without those guys up 100 100% I think it gave guys opportunities that like I said we knew you know that they were like Sam

Marl was able we knew Sam was able to shoot I wouldn’t say I was expecting to hit 83es in Orlando like that’s consistently were having 30 but like you know we knew he could shoot um Craig Porter being able to see what he can step up in moments in be unfaced you

Know I think that’s that’s the biggest thing you look at George has been able to develop back into into his form Dean Wade’s been phenomenal um so now you have all that um on the bench Carris has been phenomenal six Man of the Year candidate like you look at all that and

Then you add 36 points however many assists and like 15 rebounds whatever it is like you know what I’m saying so you add that back to what we already have and then also you add like like I said with adding those two guys back you have guys that understand that minutes are

Going to shrink times like times in game are going to be different but also being okay with that so I think there definitely was a silver lining so I think those guys will be hitting their Prime form you know DG and EV towards the playoffs getting them in in full

Game shape you know so there’s a lot of things you can look at and obviously like you said you want those two guys out there but you know to see the development of guys has been great to see and then all that you you mentioned

Um how it won’t be Flawless but you guys will kind of try to reintegrate them into what you guys have been doing what is the biggest challenge though you think with that I mean obviously they’re two great players they’ll figure it out eventually but what is the biggest

Challenge to bringing those two guys back in um it’s going to sound very simple knowing the plays um to be honest and I I say that because we were going through practice shoot around and I forget we forget that those two guys don’t really know a lot of what the actions that

We’re in off of that so I think that’s something that’ll be definitely challenging um but we fine be quick to get back into it but ultimately I don’t it’s tough man because the way we’ve been playing it really suits those like those two guys in particular I mean

I think um we run the ball we’ve wanted to play with Pace we’re doing that you know obviously you know continuing to find guys Contin defensively we’ve been we’ve taken a step you know what I mean so you add a guy like EV it’s only going

To get tougher to score on us you know what I mean so I can’t pinpoint one thing but I think the biggest thing I would say is just getting reintegrated understanding all right cool we run this action instead of of it being Sam it’s DG all right KY want DG

On this side so they can’t single side tag all right K we want you in this action I’m going to scream because they won’t switch off of me all right cool EV I’m going to screen off you because they may head you get to your little roll get

To a little two man game maybe we’re setting the screens we did it tonight like they put the FIV men on ever put the fivan on ice now Isaac’s in the half row now you have EV and Jay on the little short rows me and DG in the

Corners like where do you help out from so like I think those will be the different things cuz getting back into that flow um you know I think will be one of the tough things but we have guys that you know pick stuff up quickly so

It won’t be that won’t be that bad one Nate hey Don what did you learn from Evan throughout this process of him dealing with that adversity and coming back um he’s resilient you know what I mean like can mess with you mentally I think

You know for him to come in on a daily day day-to-day basis ready to work putting his time in being a great teammate great great teammate throughout all this like you know those are the biggest things you know guys sometimes get hurt and his be on their own you

Know what I mean he’s he guys involved with the group and with everybody um then in 20 minutes having 10 and nine I’m going five of seven like just being right back like you know and there’s still ways he could have been better you know what I’m saying and he’s he’s quick

To say that so I think for him just you know and him and Darius as well just being able to understand like it’s going to be a process you know what I mean and for for them to be around us to be supportive to be you know continuously

About their work throughout this and not just say oh we’re playing well or whatever like you know kind of being ready you know when their when their time comes and just on a day-to-day basis being on time to their to their treatment being ready for their stuff um

Especially for young guys like that’s that’s big time

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell spoke with the media following a 118-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on January 29, 2024 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.