Player Grades: Cavs at Wizards – Donovan Mitchell rescues Cavaliers from disaster
The Cleveland Cavaliers did not put together what would have been a winning performance against any of the other 28 teams. Luckily for them, they were facing a Washington Wizards team that rarely wins and was missing three starters. Donovan Mitchell’s 24 points in the fourth quarter were enough for Cleveland to earn a 130-126 victory.
Ratings are based on our expectations for each player.
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Donovan Mitchell
48 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds
The Cavaliers shouldn’t need this type of performance from Mitchell to beat a three-win team. But luckily for them, Mitchell provided.
Mitchell is one of the few guys on the team who plays every night like he refuses to lose. He simply wanted the team to get a victory on a night when they didn’t deserve one. He showed up time and time again for this team. Hopefully the Cavs will start to follow his lead at some point and match his competitive level.
Grade: A
Jaylon Tyson
13 points, 3 assists, 6 rebounds
Tyson is one of the few players to consistently match Mitchell’s competitive level. The Cavs need more of what Tyson brings to the court every night. The problem is, they need effort and energy like this from their best players (except Mitchell), not someone who entered the season outside of Cleveland’s ideal rotation.
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Grade: B
Evan Mobley
23 points, 6 assists, 10 rebounds
Washington was missing its best defensive anchor, Alex Sarr (if the worst defense in the league can have an anchor), and Mobley couldn’t always take advantage. He went just 5-11 inside the arc. That’s not ideal when you’re facing a center rotation of Marvin Bagley III and Tristan Vukčević.
Grade: D+
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Garland of Darius
18 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds
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Things are going badly for Garland. He can’t move laterally on defense, doesn’t make outside shots (0-11 tonight) and simply doesn’t have the burst that made him a multiple-time All-Star. It’s not that he’s not playing at the level he set for himself in the past. He was just being mean.
Bub Carrington – who entered this game averaging 7 points on 34.9% shooting – ran circles around Garland. This is simply unacceptable from a starting caliber point guard, let alone a point guard with a max contract.
Garland changed the game a bit in the fourth quarter by providing four big assists and putting up six points in the fourth quarter. But not enough to suggest that things will significantly improve.
Grade: D-
De’Andre Hunter
15 points, 0 assists, 4 rebounds
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Hutner played with more energy early in the match. That dissipated soon enough as he went back to being the same player who lacked energy and didn’t make enough shots to compensate. This led head coach Kenny Atkinson to choose to close out the game with Lonzo Ball and Dean Wade instead.
Rating: F
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Craig Porter Jr.
4 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds
Porter changed the dynamic of the game with his energy in the fourth quarter. This included two interceptions.
It’s hard to justify the lack of minutes he has, since he played just under 11 minutes tonight. Atkinson said after the game that assistant head coach Johnnie Bryant had to convince him to give Porter more playing time. It was a good move by Bryant, but it’s concerning that Atkinson doesn’t see that Porter is one of the few guys who plays with effort.
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Grade: B+
Dean Wade
2 points, 2 assists, 4 rebounds
Wade played well in the final lineup doing things with Wade.
Grade: C+
Nae’Qwan Tomlin
0 points, 1 assist, 3 reboundss
You can’t commit a foul after just 10 minutes of play.
Rating: F
Lonzo ball
2 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds
The ball remains unable to score inside. This includes when he has a wide open layup.
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He nevertheless finished with a plus/minus of +26. He was there for the team’s best basketball, was in the final lineup and made a big three-pointer in the fourth.
Grade: C–
