Former Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell may not have played in the second half of the Cleveland Cavaliers' humiliating Game 4 defeat against the Indiana Pacers. Still, the damage was already done, with him at the forefront. The Cavaliers' embarrassment in such an important game illustrates the importance of Mitchell's former teammate, Rudy Gobert.
The pairing of Mitchell and Gobert was far from perfect in Utah, and they definitely had their humiliations in the playoffs, from blowing a 3-1 series lead to blowing a 25-point lead in an elimination game, but being down by more than 40 points in such a pivotal game was never one of them.
"Okay, well, it's not like Mitchell has a Gobert-type on his current team that could prevent this from happening!" As true as that is, the Cavaliers have the current Defensive Player of the Year, Evan Mobley, and the team had its full squad entering Game 4 while down 2-1. It was a must-win game if there ever was one, and by the half, it was over.
In fact, when Mitchell went out, the Cavaliers trimmed down the deficit to 20, even if the game was beyond saving at that point. That doesn't mean Cleveland doesn't need Mitchell to thrive in these playoffs. It just means that a Mitchell-led team shouldn't have games like these, especially when they are the No. 1 seed.
It all points to how important Gobert was to those Jazz teams with Mitchell, which doesn't get the ex-Jazzman the credit he deserves, and how much Mitchell misses that kind of presence. It also reflects on a narrative that must be exposed as a myth.
Back then, Gobert took the heat for the Jazz's failures, not Mitchell
Mitchell can have impressive performances like he's had throughout these playoffs, but they haven't always produced wins. The ex-Jazz star is undoubtedly a playoff riser, but when the Jazz failed during his time with the team, most of the blame for what went wrong was put on Gobert's shoulders.
Now, Gobert wasn't blameless, as he had (and still has) issues with smallball lineups offensively, but his offensive struggles overshadowed how strong a mark he made on defense. The Cavaliers' struggles and the Timberwolves' thriving since the playoffs began demonstrate that Gobert got more heat than he deserved as a Jazzman.
This isn't to say Mitchell deserved the blame instead. He just escaped the blame because his issues as a playoff performer fell under the radar. After all, Gobert was too easy to criticize. However, with the Cavaliers at massive risk of seeing such a fantastic season go down in flames, it's clear all these years later that Gobert was overhated.