Donovan Mitchell suggests that he needs to flop to get calls after free-throw disparity in Game 1

Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell wasn’t happy with the lack of foul calls that he got in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Detroit Pistons.

In fact, the Cavs star – who took just two shots from the line in the team’s loss – suggested that maybe he needs to flop more in order to get more calls.

The Cavs fell to 0-4 on the road in the 2026 postseason with Tuesday’s loss, and they had a hard time generating offense, finishing with just 101 points while turning the ball over 19 times.

Cleveland took 16 free throws as a team in Game 1, with James Harden (9-for-9 from the line) leading the way. The Pistons, on the other hand, attempted 35 free throws. Cade Cunningham (9-for-11 from the line) and Tobias Harris (7-for-8 from the charity stripe) were both able to get to the line quite a bit in Game 1.

There’s certainly a major discrepancy in the free throw numbers for these teams, and it’s possible things will even out throughout this seven-game series.

However, Mitchell’s free-throw attempts have really fallen off this postseason.

During the regular season, the Cavs star averaged 6.1 attempts from the line per game, shooting 86.5 percent. In the playoffs (eight games), he’s averaging just 2.3 free-throw attempts per game.

Mitchell had multiple games in the first round against the Toronto Raptors where he did not attempt a single free throw, and he only has one game in the 2026 postseason with more than four free-throw attempts.

Tuesday’s loss was the fourth game in a row where Mitchell took two or fewer free throws in a game this postseason.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Cavs star adjusts his play style going forward in this series with Detroit. Mitchell could look to attack the basket even more to draw fouls, but the Pistons have one of the best defenses in the NBA. They finished the regular season with the No. 2 defensive rating in the league, behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Even though he couldn’t get to the line in Game 1, Mitchell still had a strong showing for the Cavs, putting up 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting (4-for-10 from 3). He’ll look to improve upon those numbers and even this series in Game 2 on Thursday night.