Driving excellence has been constant for Cavs’ Mitchell in blazing stretch

In case you needed a reminder, Donovan Mitchell has been playing at an elite level for the Cleveland Cavaliers throughout this season, and even more so, lately.

Last month, Mitchell averaged 30.6 points per contest in 13 appearances, and in post-All-Star break play, he’s posted 30.2 points per game, in 17 outings. There’s been some inconsistencies in handfuls of games with his three-point shooting, but he’s still connected on a solid 37.2 percent from deep on a healthy 9.2 attempts per game in that span.

Overall, though, the scoring display from Mitchell has been impressive throughout this season for the Wine and Gold, and while there’s still some ill-advised shots at times from him, with his talent level, some of those one has to live with. It’s not as if his presence doesn’t help open up others from generating open looks for them, either.

But make no mistake, the bucket-getting from Mitchell has been otherworldly. In this past month of March, he had that aforementioned near-31 points per contest, and tacked on 5.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per appearance.

We touched on the deep shooting splits, and his range and shot creation, including some off movement, are going to be crucial points of emphasis for Mitchell game-in and game-out and likely will still be in the playoffs. That goes without saying.

However, what’s jumped out in this recent blazing stretch of games has been how Mitchell’s driving abilities have continually been fruitful, and have helped set the tone for himself and the team.

Mitchell’s effectiveness as a driver and finisher there for the Cavs has been the constant for him in this scorching stretch.

Mitchell’s multi-level scoring, including both his deep shooting and mid-range shots mixed in, both will be involved for him game-to-game, and in the playoffs. When it comes to the deep shooting, he recently became the fastest player in league history (410 games, per Cavs Notes) to score 10,000 points and hit 1,000 threes (of which the cashed in on the latter much earlier). He also recently passed LeBron James for having the most 40-point games in a single season in Cavaliers history, with 11 (per Cavs Notes), and he added to that total with his 12th in Sunday’s win over the Indiana Pacers. In that one, he posted this third straight 40-point outing.

Still, what’s often been the most steady aspect of Mitchell’s scoring that’s been there game-in and game-out has been how great he’s been as a driver and rim pressure player. It’s still going to realistically be the bread and butter part of his offensive game.

This season, Mitchell’s drives have been trimmed down a bit in comparison to last year and the year prior, for example, with the Utah Jazz. This year, he’s had 12.6 drives per contest, per Second Spectrum’s tracking data, with that number having been 15.2 drives per outing in 2021-22.

With Darius Garland in the fold now with Mitchell, that’s most of the reasoning there, and Mitchell has been more at the 2 spot this season, as opposed to recent prior years, when he was more of a true combo with Utah.

Regardless, Mitchell has been a tremendous driving presence for Cleveland this season, and in this scorching hot stretch, especially. His burst, change-of-pace, secondary transition spin moves to generate space and his finishing, with his combo of English at the basket when needed, touch and power have all been on display in recent weeks.

The ferocity and strength Mitchell has as a rim pressure player has not been something the Cavaliers have had since the LeBron days, and that’s not to discount Collin Sexton’s driving efforts in recent prior seasons.

Sexton just wasn’t nearly the vertical threat of Mitchell at the rim, even with him having his moments; nor did he quite have Mitchell’s handle or could Sexton split double teams the way Mitchell can. Sexton is a heck of a talent in his own right in that regard, he’s just not the superstar Mitchell is.

As it pertains to Mitchell’s driving efficiency this season, he’s connected on 59.3 percent of his driving shot attempts, en route to 9.8 driving points per outing. That finishing clip has been higher than Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown and Anthony Edwards, respectively; of course, Antetokounmpo’s going to draw more fouls in those instances, but it doesn’t diminish how well Mitchell’s been in that area this season. One also shouldn’t overlook his touch on push shots and runners there, to counter this at-rim expertise.

Overall, though, in post-All-Star break play, Mitchell’s connected on 69.2 percent of his shot attempts in the restricted area, per NBA.com’s shooting data. This is an area he’s converted at a high rate throughout this season, but lately, he’s really been at the peak of his powers. His success there has continually been a steady dose of offense for Mitchell in recent weeks, and from some dazzling moves and/or rim-rattling jams, it’s given the Cavaliers energy.

As the Cavs head into the playoffs, one should keep expecting Mitchell to set the tone in games with his driving abilities, both from finding gaps and angles in set situations and opportunistically in transition.