1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs from their loss on Tuesday to the Jazz

Cavs stud: Donovan Mitchell

In his first game playing the Jazz as a visitor, Mitchell delivered for most of the game. Mitchell was on fire for much of the first half, and finished with 25 of Cleveland’s 55 points in the first 24 minutes.

In the game, he hit seven three-point shots, and his shooting range and driving abilities were on display, which the Cavaliers needed every bit of.

Mitchell would eventually end up with 46 points on 14-of-27 shooting, and was 11-of-11 from the foul line. Now, there was a pretty meaningless tip-in at essentially the end of the game to cut the margin of loss to two, but to put things in perspective, Mitchell had the second-most points ever in a players’ initial return to playing his former team on the road, per Elias Sports and as h/t Cavs Notes.

One shouldn’t gloss over Mitchell’s six assists, either, on Tuesday night, along with his three steals. As he’s proven throughout the season and often in recent prior seasons with Utah, he’s a more than capable passer, and especially competent secondary playmaker to generate meaningful perimeter looks for others.

Mitchell, who is fresh off East Player of the Week honors, had it going in a huge way once again in Cleveland’s close loss.