We all saw the highlights and the statistics and knew Cleveland Cavaliers new addition Donovan Mitchell would be a very helpful player to the team in its rise to a potential NBA Championship but having seen now through the first five games of the season what an impact that really looks like is beyond what most Cavs fans had expected.
Mitchell has started the season even better than Cavs fans could’ve anticipated.
Mitchell has been spectacular, to say the least. He and his teammate Caris LeVert both poured in 41 points in a tremendous comeback win against the Boston Celtics on Friday night. It was the most points scored by a Cavs backcourt duo in a regular season game in the history of the team. Former players LeBron James and Kyrie Irving didn’t even accomplish this in the regular season though they did have their own moment in the 2016 NBA Finals when they did this in a Game 5 win against the Golden State Warriors.
Mitchell has scored more than 30 points in four of the team’s five games. He’s averaging 31 points, six assists and five rebounds. The 155 points he’s already scored through just five games is also the most that any Cavs player has scored in that amount of time to start a season. James opened the 2017-18 season having scored 138 points in five games.
Now, Mitchell has been criticized in the past for playing some poor defense in his career. It helps more now that he has big men Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen anchored behind him in the paint, and to his credit, Mitchell has defended far better to begin this season than he usually has in years past. With that the team is also rolling in most categories in the league standings including its defense which is ranked third at the moment.
The fact too that primary point guard Darius Garland has been sidelined since game one of the season with an eye injury just makes what Mitchell is doing at the moment even more impressive. Mitchell’s playmaking has been huge for the team, too, along those lines.
We knew the Wine and Gold were a good team coming into the season. They now have at least four All-Stars in the starting lineup when they are all healthy. But even with different rotations they are still maintaining that competitive edge. With Garland out, they’ve slid forward Dean Wade into the starting rotation and he’s provided outstanding and consistent defense. Cedi Osman has been the first player to come off the bench and he’s continued to knock down buckets in bunches as well.
With Mitchell being that leader at this point of the early season, the confidence that has provided to this team has been fun to witness. We all witnessed how LeBron James propelled this team to NBA Final after NBA Final in the past.
We are starting to get a sense that that could be the case in this wonderful story of a Cleveland team on the verge of greatness again.