Donovan Mitchell lived up to his reputation once more on Sunday, as he willed the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 120-105 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers to cap a six-game homestand at Rocket Arena to spoil Kawhi Leonard's return game. Whether it was getting downhill, hitting his usual left-drifting threes off the dribble, or dazzling with his vision, Mitchell gave the Clippers all they could handle (or couldn't).
Mitchell finished with 37 points on 14 of 22 from the field, knocking down five of nine triples. He also added eight rebounds, six assists, and a steal, only turning the ball over twice. It is the 10th time this season that Mitchell has scored at least 30 points, and the fifth occurrence in the team's last six contests.
Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson called it “insane,” grinning while shaking his head in awe: “Is there anybody, any guard, playing as well as him in the league?”
It's not Mitchell's points that stood out to Atkinson in Cleveland's latest win. Instead, it was his passing chops, including multiple alley-oop hookups with Evan Mobley and 13 potential assists.
“He's just in a great place,” Atkinson said. “Great, great demeanor. He’s got great control of the game. He's in this kind of money spot in his career. He’s just kind of got control of everything, and then, just great on the bench leadership-wise.”
For the man himself, Mitchell is just trying to do a bit of everything. With Jarrett Allen out, he especially knows he's got to help with the boards battle, which will help start fastbreaks and won't allow opponents to match up. His assists will come naturally as a product of taking what the defense gives him.
“For me, this is who I am, and I just gotta continue to do that consistently and do whatever's needed of me to win the game,” Mitchell said.
“That's the Don I'm used to seeing,” De'Andre Hunter added. “Being on another team before, watching other guys in the league, he's one of the dudes that you'd see almost every night with some spectacular plays or some scoring outputs.”
Clippers big man Ivica Zubac was crushing the wine and gold on the interior, hitting jump hook after jump hook to the point where the Clippers cut it down to a one-point game late into the third quarter. So, Mitchell took matters into his hands, catching a Tyrese Proctor inbound pass on the block for a baseline left-hand layup, plus the foul. The following possession, he drove into John Collins and finished another and-one opportunity high off the glass. As the clock ticked under a minute, he drilled a transition trey.
Mitchell finished the frame with a zip pass to Evan Mobley for a dunk as time expired, where Cleveland took a 13-point lead into the fourth. He even had a defensive possession where he swatted away an entry pass on help like a defensive back with Zubac in the low post.
This kind of consistency and stat-sheet stuffing suggests that Mitchell is playing the most complete basketball of his career. Danny Cunningham of The Inside Shot asked him if that was the case after Sunday's game.
“I would think so,” Mitchell said. “I felt like I was in shape early, but also understanding you're at a different point in your career where you see things differently. You understand the guys around you, you understand what's going on, you're reading, and obviously, scoring-wise, I feel like I'm at my best right now, efficiency-wise.
“But I think, yeah, just as a complete player… I think the only thing I complain about to myself is the turnovers. That's just because I'm trying to get better as a playmaker. I say that every year, but turning those down and getting those down would be great. But I think as a whole, I think I am, and just gotta be consistent with it all year.”
Earlier this month, backcourt partner and fellow All-Star guard Darius Garland was outspoken after Mitchell dropped 46 points, dished out eight assists, and grabbed four rebounds against the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a hallmark game, with a 15-of-21 field-goal output, but hardly any surprise.
“The Spida that we know, MVP that we know, First Team All-NBA that we know he should be every year,” Garland said. “It was good to see him, and that. We really need that to go forward, and he's starting to realize that. But he also wants us to do our thing as well. So it's a give-and-take type of thing with Don, but we really need Don to go be Don.”
Donovan Mitchell should be in NBA MVP conversations at the very least
Cleveland's loss to the Indiana Pacers in the postseason opened Mitchell's eyes. While he has to put the ball in the basket, it's also about getting guys in the right spots at the right times, especially in an evolving NBA where the tempo is increasing from game to game.
“That kind of prepared me to come out here and say, ‘Okay, even though they are pressuring you, it's not always downhill to attack. It's downhill to create and then hit a skip pass,'” Mitchell explained. “Or, ‘Pass the ball ahead,' or, ‘Alright, you've gotta improve your catch and shoots because if you don't shoot that, now you're driving into a crowd.' Playing out of the post in certain situations. Shooting your mid-rangers more. Like, being efficient in everything.
“That's what last year's playoffs really taught me. It's like, if you have to continue to drive full court every single possession, you're gonna tire out, you won't be efficient. And I don't just mean scoring; I just mean overall as a basketball player. So I think for me, just finding different ways to score, different ways to be a threat, and then that opens up everything else.”
With Sunday's NBA slate complete, Mitchell ranks fifth in the NBA at 30.8 points per game, only behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Maxey, and Luka Doncic. His 65.6% True Shooting percentage is a top-10 figure in the league, and, according to Basketball Reference, Mitchell has a 7.1 Box Plus-Minus as well.
Although it's easy to take high-scoring performances for granted with so much talent scattered around, this is deserving of attention because of the positive impact it has on the Cavs. Without Mitchell on the floor, Cleveland's offensive rating has dipped by 11.6, and its effective field goal percentage is 6.6% worse, per Cleaning The Glass.
Things are getting less clunky now that Garland is in the mix again at point guard; still, the wine and gold have been dependent on the 29-year-old to bail them out a ton.
“We’ve got to still figure some things out. We can’t have Donovan be our savior all the time, but as we get guys back, we’ll get better,” Atkinson said.
There's healthy competition for the NBA's Most Valuable Player award, and we're not even close to determining the winner of that race yet, with plenty of months ahead.
But Mitchell is forcing his way into the conversation.
