Donovan Mitchell acknowledges Cavs fans frustration after loss to the Hornets

This season hasn’t been kind to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team came into the season with high expectations, but after losing once again, Cleveland fell to the eight seed at 15-12.

Last year Cleveland was the top team in the East, led by four potential all-stars and a group of quality role players. This year, the role players haven’t been able to contribute in the same way, while the all-stars either deal with injuries or have been underperforming.

Right now the most frustrated group has been the fans. In Cleveland’s most recent loss to the Charlotte Hornets, the fans made sure they were heard, booing the team.

Cleveland all-star Donovan Mitchell justified the fans' behavior, acknowledging it as a fair response to what has been happening for the Cavaliers this season.

"Yeah. I was a fan once, I'd boo us too -- we're not playing well. The city deserves better than what we've been giving and we gotta go out there and figure it out,” Mitchell said.

Harsh but fair words for a team leader that is going to have to try and inspire his team to find some rhythm during the middle of a season.

Against the Hornets, Cleveland played down to their level the entire time. They allowed the Hornets to shoot a higher percentage from the floor, and from deep. Then the game went into overtime, where things got even worse.

The Cavaliers couldn’t score a single point in overtime. Just frustrating miss after miss while the Hornets ran away with the game, winning in a 119-111 battle. A game that Cleveland should have been able to dominate turned into a trap, with the Hornets getting the last laugh.

It hasn’t always been Cleveland’s fault though. They have gotten unlucky so far this season with injuries. Three of their four all-stars, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, have all dealt with injuries this season. Mobley is currently out for the next few weeks.

Other role players like Larry Nance Jr., Sam Merrill and Max Strus have been limited this year, with Strus unlikely to make his season debut until the all-star break.

It’s been difficult for Cleveland to overcome it. It seems they never knew who is going to be ready to go for a given game, and that has kept everyone out of sync. The team’s shooting has struggled because of it, as it’s been a bad year from the three-point line (34%) and free throw line (77%).

The pressure is starting to build for Cleveland to figure it out this season. For the league’s most expensive team, if they can’t get things together by the trade deadline, some moves could be made to dump large contracts and look to the future.