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The 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers were on the ropes after losing the first two games of their second-round matchup against the Indiana Pacers at home. Indiana took advantage of the absences of their key guys, such as Evan Mobley and Darius Garland, but that has only served to bring out the best in Donovan Mitchell, who is ascending into a different plane with each passing game in this year's playoffs. In Game 3, with the Cavs needing a huge game to avoid going down 3-0, Mitchell took it upon himself to lead the team with scoring with a 43-point performance, leading his team to a 126-104 victory.
Mitchell has been so aggressive in hunting his shot, taking advantage of a flimsy Pacers defense, and he's been carving them up every which way. This time around, his three-point shot was online as well; he went 14-29 from the field and 5-13 from beyond the arc, and he was still hellbent on putting pressure on the rim by getting to the paint at will, drawing 14 free throws on the night (making 10 of them).
In so doing, Mitchell made history; according to ClutchPoints' Tomer Azarly, Spida became the first player in Cavs history to score 90 or more points in a two-game span, following up his 48-point masterpiece in Game 2 with another bonkers scoring explosion. He also joined an exclusive club including LeBron James and Michael Jordan by being just the eighth player in NBA history to record 29+ field-goal and nine-plus free-throw attempts in three consecutive playoff games.
Some of Mitchell's shot volume has come as a result of the absences of Mobley and Garland. But even though they returned to action in Game 3, the Cavs knew that their star man has been on fire and deserves to commandeer the offense to his heart's delight as they look to bounce back from their rough start to the series against the Pacers.
Donovan Mitchell squashes Pacers' comeback attempt in Cavs' Game 3 win
With 8:26 remaining in the fourth quarter of Game 3, the Pacers had cut the Cavs' lead to 11 points. This was evoking memories of the Pacers' Game 2 comeback. But then after a timeout, Donovan Mitchell went out and squashed any ideas of another come from behind win.
Mitchell grabbed the offensive board on the very first possession following the timeout and then nailed a turnaround midrange jumper. On the next possession, after the Pacers scored a bucket he pulled up from deep to push the lead back up to 14. And then after a defensive stop, Mitchell knifed into the lane and set up an open triple from Max Strus, extending the lead to 17 and never looking back from there.
It's the brilliance of Mitchell that gives Cavs fans so much hope that they can come back from a 2-0 series deficit against the Pacers.
