Early stretch has been huge for Cavs’ Mitchell regarding chemistry building

Don’t look now, but after a game with a number of clunky moments in the season opener at the Toronto Raptors, the Cleveland Cavaliers have won five straight games.

Now, the Cavaliers have still had some inconsistent play in stretches, and the group has had its rough sequences, with some of those being at inopportune times, to clarify.

That being said, Cleveland is now 5-1 on the young 2022-23 campaign, and in the past two contests, they’ve had thrilling comeback efforts in the second half at the Boston Celtics, an overtime victory, and versus the New York Knicks. On Sunday night, the Cavaliers won 121-108 after outscoring the Knicks 37-15 in the fourth quarter, which was a heck of a follow-up from that Boston OT W.

In that Knicks game, Donovan Mitchell, Kevin Love and Dean Wade combined to hit 22 three-point shots, too, which was an NBA record for a number of triples made in a single game by a trio of teammates. In that outing, Love had 16 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, and Mitchell himself had 38 points, to go with a career-high 12 assists.

With that sort of thing in mind, one of the key takeaways from this early-season stretch for the Cavaliers has been how Mitchell has been developing meaningful chemistry in-game with his new set of teammates.

Granted, it has not been ideal that Darius Garland has not been in action since the season opener in Toronto because of an eye laceration, and he and Mitchell haven’t gotten much time in game action yet. But, in the mean time, Mitchell has done a hell of a job, as a scorer, and as a playmaker for others, and the chemistry-building has been crucial.

This early-season stretch has been huge for Mitchell in regards to chemistry building with his new Cavs teammates.

Coming into the season, we knew Mitchell was going to put the ball in the basket, and do so in bunches. In his past three seasons prior to this first one with Cleveland, he had 25.9, 26.4 and 24.0 points per game, respectively, with the Utah Jazz. In each of those seasons, he was an All-Star.

So far this season, he’s been on a tear, and has had 32.2 points per contest in these first six games, and has shot 45.5 percent from three-point land, on 9.2 attempts per outing. His shot creation from range, mixed in with some off-ball and movement shooting has been significant for the Wine and Gold, and his driving and transition play has often the given the Cavaliers a lift, too.

It’s also been good to see him find his spots in playing off his teammates, whether it’s been in early offense, in pick-and-roll situations with Jarrett Allen, or with him flying off screens. Mitchell’s scoring has come easy, for the most part, which has been a welcomed sight in a new situation. And Garland, Cleveland’s best passer aside from Ricky Rubio, has barely played.

Additionally, while it’s been encouraging to see Mitchell rolling along in doing what he does naturally, his combo guard abilities as a passer have been impressive. He’s averaged 7.3 assists through this six-game span to begin the 2022-23 season, mostly sans Garland, and in Cleveland’s last win over the Knicks, he had a career-high 12 assists.

Even with guys not having much time with Mitchell yet, it’s been great to see how catch-and-shoot threats such as Caris LeVert (to some degree at least), Cedi Osman, Kevin Love and Dean Wade have been playing off of Mitchell.

They’ve found ways to consistently avail themselves, either or the strong or weak side, and Mitchell’s sprayout feeds to them, from a variety of angles, have led to quality shots throughout games. We saw that in that Knick game, in the win over the Celtics, and in other recent contests, and the pick-and-pop plays between Mitchell and Love have given the Cavaliers a jolt.

Also, when Garland is back, I do believe he and Mitchell will aid each other as well with off-ball shooting abilities, with how both can shoot it at a high level. That’s something to keep an eye on, too.

Now, Mitchell’s starting to find ways to get Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen involved more, but that’s something they’ll be able to figure out with more experience, I believe. And Mobley has been more assertive of late, which is essential looking onward.

And in fairness, generally, Mitchell does need to cut down on turnovers, as he’s had 4.2 per outing. However, with all that he’s been doing for the Cavs, I don’t read much into that, and in an entirely new situation, I have to cut him some slack.

Overall, though, this early-season stretch for Mitchell has been huge for building chemistry with his Cavs teammates, and while the team has to figure some things out when Garland returns, I don’t think that’s overly concerning. The group could have enough defensively (and Lamar Stevens can help there, too, as an aside), that the Cavaliers should be able to iron those areas out in time.

So far, Mitchell and his teammates are meshing quite well.