Despite Donovan Mitchell's scoring outburst on Monday night, the Chicago Bulls were still on track to claim a much-needed victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. After battling inconsistencies for much of the season, this would've been a huge victory for Billy Donovan's Bulls, especially after Spida scored 55 points with the Bulls still leading, 130-127, with only 4.1 seconds left in the game.
However, everything just went right for Donovan Mitchell on the night, much to Billy Donovan and the Bulls' chagrin.
Mitchell ended up sending the game to overtime with an incredible putback off a missed free throw, and he proceeded to torch the Bulls in overtime. Spida scored 13 points in OT, ending up with a historic 71-point effort to lead the Cavs to victory, but the Bulls head coach argued that the game never should have gone to an extra period in the first place had officials made the correct lane violation call on the missed freebie.
“It’s a clear violation, unequivocally [Mitchell was] crossing the line on the basket before the ball ever touches the rim. He beat Patrick [Williams], but kind of the reason he beat Patrick was because he went in there too early,” Donovan said after the game, per Joe Crowley of the Chicago Sun Times.
Billy Donovan might be right in that Donovan Mitchell had already crossed the free-throw line before his attempt even hit the rim. Nonetheless, the game is over, and there is nothing for the Bulls to do except look forward to the league's last two-minute report that Donovan expects to give them cold comfort.
“I think the Two Minute Report will come out and say he crossed the line. […] But at least what I saw on film, it made it hard for Patrick to block him out because he was certainly across the free-throw line before the ball hit the rim. And if that's the case, it's a violation. […] And again, if I'm wrong, then I'll apologize and say I was wrong. But that's what the rule is so clearly we're going to see that in the Two Minute Report,” Donovan said, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
Nonetheless, everything just has to break right for anyone to score 71 points, and this was one of those things that just went Donovan Mitchell and the Cavs' way. Mitchell's explosion may have captivated the league, but the Bulls will feel hard done by this result, especially after blowing a huge first-half lead en route to a crushing defeat.
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