Donovan Mitchell Reminded Everyone That The Magic Don't Get Two Wins For Beating The Cavs By The Worst Playoff Margin In Franchise History
So obviously last night's Worst Postgame Press Conference Quote went to LeBron James saying at that the end of the day, "it's just basketball", but I'm not going to let Donovan Mitchell slide with what he said after the Cavs EMBARRASSING Game 3 performance in Orlando.
"You don’t get two wins for winning by more than 20, so you’ve got to keep it in that perspective. At the end of he day we could have lost by 20 or 40, it doesn’t matter. It’s one win."
Don't get me wrong, Donovan is right. It is true that if you lose by 1 or 100, it's only one loss. But I subscribe to the belief that momentum matters, and whatever momentum we had coming off our 2 wins in Cleveland has been completely erased and then some after losing by fucking 38 points. We were down 96-61 at the end of 3! It was an absolute ass kicking in every way imaginable, and Donovan brushes aside that it was the worst loss in franchise history.
I'd like to have been a fly on the wall heading into last night's game, because that would tell me a whole lot about the mindset of both JB Bickerstaff and the Cavs in general. Everyone and their brother knew that Game 3 was a Must Win for the Magic. And it was the most obvious let down game of all time. We completely dominated Games 1 and 2, and they are a young, inexperienced team coming home to their own crowd. They neeeeeeded last night. Did we realize that? Did we realize that if we came out and punched them in the mouth, they'd fold and we'd get to rest up for what is hopefully a battle with the Celtics? Watching the Cavs made me feel like we were conceding Game 3 because it was the Magic's turn. I did not like the dog in us whatsoever last night. It was like the two teams completely flipped identifies from the previous games. And our "best player on the court" in the series scored 13 points and had a starter-worst minus 25 while in the game.
Disappointed in our guy's ability to lead last night. And to answer the question of what I'd have liked him to say, it'd have been this: That was embarrassing. That's on me. We need to be better. No other way to put it.
Game 4 is going to tell me a lot about both teams. I'm afraid it's going to tell me that Orlando's young group now has no fear, and they'll come out ready to fight once again. I'd like to think that a 38 point loss was a wakeup call for the Cavs, but after the effort I saw last night, I wouldn't put it past them to think we just need to win our home games. Either way….I do have good news for Cleveland / Orlando fans: we're back on national TV!!!! It might be a noon start, but we're not on NBATV this time!!!