CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the regular season, the Cavs played in 38 clutch games and finished the season with the second-best win percentage in those contests (68.4%). But now, as the stakes rise, the Cavs needed a test like Wednesday night.
That’s why Donovan Mitchell walked out of Rocket Arena on Wednesday night encouraged, not concerned.
“I love the fact that the game happened like this,” Mitchell said after Cleveland’s 121-112 Game 2 win over Miami. “I would much rather this than win by 20 like we did the other night, especially going into an environment like we are in a few days. We had to really find a way as a group.
“We always show up, especially during the regular season. But to see it come out this way tonight, especially before going the road was definitely huge.”
Mitchell has deemed himself “psychotic” because of how he embraces these moments. The chaos, the pressure, the growth.
Fans were glued to their seats in Rocket Arena for nearly three hours as the Cavs played with their heartstrings, taking them on a roller coaster of emotions that eventually ended in victory. It was apparent that not everyone enjoyed it, even if the end result was a 2-0 series lead heading to Miami on Saturday for Game 3.
Why were fans gripping their seats in the final minutes of another win?
It didn’t come from a wire-to-wire dismantling. It wasn’t a continuation of the 20-point blowout in Game 1. It came from a place of discomfort — where decision-making under duress defines, where defensive connectivity gets tested, and where playoff basketball starts to separate systems from improvisation.
And they thought they’d seen the ending to this story, a rerun from heartbreaks past. But, that’s what Mitchell wanted to prove. This time it’ll be different.
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Still, he had to bail out his team from what seemed like a contest that was nearly out of hand for the opposition at halftime.
Cleveland’s second quarter was a masterclass in modern offensive geometry. The ball popped, the spacing held, and the decision-making was crisp. The 11-made 3s set a playoff record for a single quarter, a result of their pace-push off misses and turnovers, timely early drag screens, and inside-out ball reversals that weaponized Miami’s coverage.
But the Cavs’ shooting cooled.
However, the bigger concern wasn’t the drop-off in shot-making. It was how quickly that bled into their defense.
“We let our offense affect our defense,” Mitchell admitted. “We weren’t making shots, got a little tired, a little stagnant, especially when the game got choppy with the fouls. Kind of got away from what we were doing.”
It showed.
That stagnation seeped into transition defense. Misses led to long rebounds. Cross-matches weren’t sorted out. Miami found rhythm jumpers in semi-transition and started targeting Cleveland’s weak-side rotations. That’s not just about effort — it’s about structure. And it’s a red flag for a team that wants to advance to the Eastern Conference finals and beyond.
In the playoffs, shot variance is inevitable. But defensive slippage can’t be.
The best teams insulate themselves from offensive droughts with physicality, switching, and discipline. The Cavs momentarily lost that anchor.
The Heat trimmed a 19-point deficit down to two midway through the fourth by doing exactly what they’re known for — staying connected, winning possessions, and letting your best players keep you within striking distance.
Tyler Herro and Davion Mitchell combined for 20 of Miami’s 32 fourth-quarter points, hunting switches, and exploiting Cleveland’s weak-side rotations.
And only Mitchell’s shot-making saved them from a collapse.
In recent playoff runs, the Cavs crumbled under pressure. Poor spacing, indecisive ball movement and defensive lapses became familiar traits in tight games. Wednesday, those cracks returned — but this time, Cleveland held firm.
“You could feel the game slipping a little,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We talked about it the last two days, keeping our composure when they hit us. So [I’m] proud of the guys, how they finished it.
“Helps when you got Donovan Mitchell. One of of those superstar-takes-over-a-game situations. Really big time, big time shots.”
There’s no version of this game where one made field goal from a Cavalier not named Donovan Mitchell should be enough to win a fourth quarter. But that’s what happened.
Mitchell scored 17 of his 30 points in the final frame, using a mix of downhill attacks off high ghost screens, deep pull-ups with Miami’s defenders caught in soft switches, and an uncanny ability to reject help before it arrived.
His decision to turn those final six minutes into a one-man show wasn’t selfish — it was necessary.
The Cavs’ continuity offense, so often built on weak-side flare actions and cutting off slot entries, disappeared. The ball stuck. Miami shrunk the floor, and Cleveland didn’t counter. Mitchell had to break pattern to save the possession — and the game.
But relying on a singular answer rarely scales.
What happens when that same fourth-quarter sequence happens against Indiana, where Tyrese Haliburton can run a high-octane two-man game that generates wide-open corner 3s every other trip? Or against Boston, where Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown can force switches until they find the Cavs’ weakest link?
Miami, for all its grit, was still short on offensive creation outside of Herro and Davion Mitchell. And when they started drawing switches, the Heat couldn’t generate reliable weak-side punishment aside from Haywood Highsmith.
That won’t hold against deeper playoff opponents.
Cleveland has grown from the team that sputtered out against the Knicks two years ago and against the Celtics last season. But in many ways, its greatest strength this season — the ability to blend system with improvisation — was reduced to just the latter in crunch time. It worked because Mitchell is one of the few players in the league who can win three straight possessions under playoff pressure. But banking on that removes the variability that made the Cavs dangerous in the first place.
This wasn’t just about clutch stats. This was about how they win when the margins shrink and the opponent doesn’t beat itself.
So yes, Wednesday’s win gave the Cavs a late-game rep under playoff pressure they sorely needed. Adversity in Game 2 will matter when the Cavs land in Miami and face an amped-up crowd looking to turn this series.
But it should also make them look in the mirror.
If they can translate this close call into improved decision-making, tighter defense, and more disciplined structure in crunch time, then Mitchell’s optimism is well-placed. If not, this game could become less of a breakthrough, and more of a warning shot.
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