Donovan Mitchell left Game 1 with 23 points, but the bigger number for the Cleveland Cavaliers was the one he kept coming back to: two trips to the free-throw line. After a 111-101 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, Mitchell said he was not getting the calls and added, “I don't flop, maybe that's why.”
Mitchell was even blunter as he described what bothered him most about the night. “I'm just not getting the calls. I don't know why. I don't flop, maybe that's why,” he said, adding that it was not just a problem from Tuesday but “the entire series.”
The frustration was easy to understand from the box score. Detroit attempted 35 free throws in the win, while Cleveland finished with 16. The Pistons won by 10 points, a margin small enough for basketball fouls and whistle timing to loom large in the aftermath.
Mitchell had entered the series opener with a remarkable run behind him, having scored 30 or more points in nine straight playoff-series openers. That streak ended with a quieter scoring night and a line that underlined how much the Cavaliers' offense depended on him getting downhill and drawing contact. Mitchell said he is a “dynamic driver,” but if the calls do not come, he has to find another way to finish.
Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said he would keep urging Mitchell to stay aggressive and attack the lane. That will matter because the team did get strong production from James Harden, who scored 22 points and went 9-for-9 at the line, but he also accounted for seven of Cleveland's 19 turnovers. The Cavaliers needed both scoring and control to hold off a Pistons team that kept finding its own trips to the stripe.
Mitchell also said a friend of his had recently been fined for talking about flopping, a reminder that players know the subject can carry consequences. For Cleveland, though, the issue is less about semantics than about urgency. If the whistles stay this way, Mitchell will have to force a different kind of game from the one he usually prefers.
