This past week of Oct. 24-30, the Cleveland Cavaliers won 3 games, making their record 5-1. They won games against the Orlando Magic, had another OT win against the Boston Celtics (they won on Oct. 23 versus the Washington Wizards in OT), and a 4th quarter comeback against the New York Knicks. This winning streak is now up to 5 wins, which is impressive.
Darius Garland hasn’t played a single minute of basketball since the first game of the season, which is disappointing, but also a good thing, in a way. Since Garland hasn’t played, the Cavaliers aren’t at full strength, in theory. This means, that when DG is back, the Cavs have a better chance of winning than they have had over the past few games. This is scary for opposing teams, as they have lost to the Cavs without their second-best player.
This past week, the Cavs scored an average of 118.7 points per game, while only allowing an average of 107.7 points. Cleveland’s defensive rating for the past week was 106.3, slotting them fourth in that stretch, where the Cavaliers had three contests. Their offensive rating for that past week was at seventh, at 117.1.
So with that said, let’s take a closer look at last week’s top performer for the Cavaliers.
As for the Cleveland Cavaliers Player of the Week for Oct. 24-30, that had to be Donovan Mitchell.
The player of this past week, for me, is Donovan Mitchell. He averaged 31.0 points, 7.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game in the 3 games. He also had an average +/- of 15.0. His shooting percentage was 50.0 percent, and a tremendous 48.3% from deep and 83.3% from the line.
Also, his defensive rating over the past 3 games has been a 105.7, one of the league’s best for this past week for a guard. And, he had a great offensive rating of 118.2 then, which is always welcomed.
Watching how he played, it was good to see how fluid his jump shots were, and how well he took contact while driving in the lane. He also took an average of 6.0 free throws over the 3 games, which helped the club throughout games.
Mitchell has been a terrific passer this week, too, being the team’s primary playmaker since DG was out with his eye injury, and in that Cavs’ win over the Knicks on Sunday, Mitchell had a career-high 12 assists, per Basketball Reference. His playmaking impact has been incredible for this Cavaliers squad to begin the season.
Last week, my Cleveland Cavaliers Player of the Week was Cedi Osman, and this week’s player is Donovan Mitchell. Caris LeVert was another option for the Cavs Player of the Week for this past week, but since his shooting percentage wasn’t as good as Mitchell’s, so I decided to go with Spida.
There are still many more weeks left in the regular season, so it’ll be exciting to see how the Cavs play for the rest of the regular season, and who the other standouts will be for the Cavaliers in ensuing weeks.