Mitchell gets out of mini slump and then some in historic display vs Bulls

One had to think that in another contest without Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, the Cleveland Cavaliers could have some troubles on Monday night. That’s what occurred for most of the first half, too, and the Cavs were down by 18 at halftime, and at one point, were down by 21 near the end of the first half.

In the third quarter, though, the game started to shift. Cleveland starting knocking down more shots, splashed in 44 points then and in the fourth quarter, they were chipping away more. In the third, the Cavaliers got three big three-pointers from Cedi Osman, and in the fourth, the Cavs kept seemingly on the verge of gaining control. Credit to DeMar DeRozan (who had 44 points himself) and the Bulls, as Cleveland couldn’t do so, but the Cavaliers ultimately did enough to give themselves a chance down the stretch.

Donovan Mitchell was the catalyst, and then some, after halftime, to be clear. In the third quarter, he had 24 points, on six-of-nine shooting, and from his attacking, got to the foul line 12 times and canned all of them.

He would then follow that up with an 18-point fourth quarter, and in that stretch, racked up six assists, two of which went to Jarrett Allen, who also had eight fourth quarter points to help Cleveland keep momentum.

Thanks largely to Mitchell, however, while the Cavs couldn’t end up taking the lead, they were in striking distance late, and Mitchell’s intentional free throw miss and own putback to eventually tie the game near the end of regulation led to the Cavaliers getting it to overtime. And in that period, he had 13 of Cleveland’s 15 points, en route to a 145-134 W.

All in all, Mitchell’s shot-making, and attacking in the third, and his fourth quarter playmaking and scoring spurred on the Cavaliers’ comeback. He had 42 points in the second half, and finished with a ridiculous 71 points in the outing thanks to the OT production as well. That total is a Cavaliers franchise record.

Mitchell joined a group of just seven players in NBA history to tally 70-plus points in a game, joining the others below, as h/t Cavs Notes.

Mitchell became the first player in NBA history to register 70-plus points in a game (on 22-of-34 shooting), and also rack up 10-plus assists, as pointed out by Basketball Reference; he added eight rebounds, too, for context.

Additionally, he accounted for 99 points, factoring in points and assists; only Wilt Chamberlain accounted for more in a game, which was in his 100-point game, via OptaSTATS.

Needless to say, it was an otherworldly performance from Spida, and after a mini slump, he responded in a humungous way to help the Cavaliers land an improbable victory.

Donovan Mitchell’s performance got him out of a mini slump, and then some, in that comeback W for the Cavs.

It’s probably a bit unforgiving to say Mitchell had been in a mini slump, but his efficiency had been down in recent games. In his last five games prior to Monday night, he had only connected on 35.1 percent of his shot attempts, and 29.8 percent of his three-point looks, and his plus-minus was minus-6.6.

In that last game against Chicago, Mitchell didn’t hit a triple, and was five-of-16 from the field, and had seven turnovers, to four assists. So, though I did think coming into Monday, the Cavaliers could make some adjustments to free up Mitchell more, and others, that eruption nobody could’ve seen coming, especially after the first half. He was a robust 20-of-25 from the foul line, too, for what it’s worth.

In the second half and in the overtime period, however, Mitchell brought the Cavs back, and his and Allen’s contributions, along with Cedi Osman’s, enabled Cleveland to hang in there, stay the course and eventually the hot shooting paid off.

Mitchell has been nothing short of outstanding for the vast majority of the season for the Wine and Gold after his trade acquisition from the Utah Jazz, and this is just the latest chapter from him in what’s been a marvelous campaign.

Hopefully Cleveland can get Ricky Rubio back in the fold soon enough, and Garland and Mobley don’t miss too much added time with their ailments.

But to reiterate, that Mitchell game was out of this world. And that could feasibly help him have a more consistent rhythm in this upcoming stretch of games.