Donovan Mitchell had himself a night in a 118-110 win for the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, scoring 38 points on 16-27 shooting, making mincemeat of their division rival's defense. However, a scary moment unfolded towards the end of the game, as Mitchell rolled his ankle and seemed to sustain a painful injury.
Considering how there have been a few injuries in recent days that have dashed other contending team's title dreams, the last thing the Cavs would need is for Mitchell to miss games when it matters the most. Nonetheless, after the game, Mitchell reassured everybody by saying that he's okay prior to the start of his postgame presser, as per Danny Cunningham of Locked On Cavs.
The Cavs have greater sense of urgency to contend for a title than ever; they traded Darius Garland for a star point guard 10 years his senior in James Harden, and they are paying the biggest luxury tax bill in the NBA at present even after shedding plenty of money prior to the trade deadline.
After three consecutive playoff heartbreaks, Cleveland has to be feeling desperate to convince themselves and the rest of the NBA that they're not fraudulent. Losing Mitchell to injury this late in the season would be devastating. But it looks as though the Cavs dodged a major bullet here.
The good news is that the Cavs have some leeway to give Mitchell rest. On Monday night, Cleveland will be back in action, but they will be coming up against another tanking team in the Memphis Grizzlies. While the team has announced nothing yet, one would think that Mitchell would be getting the day off to rest his ankle.
At present, the Cavs are sitting in fourth in the East standings with a 49-29 record. They can still climb to third over the New York Knicks, but they may not have much incentive to do that anyway.
