The Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t take care of business on the road.
They faced a tough and gritty Houston Rockets team and took them down to the wire, but a couple of missed free throws down the stretch cost them the game.
However, all in all, Donovan Mitchell still liked what he saw from his team.
Following the game, the former Utah Jazz star claimed to be unbothered by the loss (via FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland).
Donovan Mitchell's not sweating this one. pic.twitter.com/ruWMYtKkkw
— FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland (@FanDuelSN_CLE) January 23, 2025
He stated that losses like that sometimes happened, but he liked the fight his team put up.
He talked about getting the needed stops and being strong on the glass against a team like the Rockets.
That does make some sense.
The Cavs tightened up on defense and held the Rockets to just 15 points in the fourth quarter; they were one free throw away from at least taking the game to overtime.
They went against the best rebounding team in the league without Evan Mobley and still hung in there.
They were also without Isaac Okoro and their leading scorer off the bench, Caris LeVert.
Granted, all teams want to win every game they play, and that’s the only point in playing the games.
Nevertheless, it’s not realistic to expect to win all games.
The Cavaliers were severely undermanned and were still in a position to win on the road against the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
Letting the game slip like that hurts, but hopefully, it will be a learning experience.
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