Late in the first quarter of Game 7 between the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Pistons guard Marcus Sasser hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to six points — a huge shot that seemed like it would give the home team some momentum after the Cavaliers had largely dominated the opening frame.
Donovan Mitchell had other ideas. The seven-time All-Star took the inbounds pass from Evan Mobley, pushed the ball up the floor and fired from just inside mid-court. His heave hit the glass and fell through the net to push the Cavaliers’ advantage back up to nine points. Only briefly in the second quarter would the Pistons get any closer.
With Mitchell leading the way, the Cavaliers cruised to a 125-94 win in one of the most dominant road Game 7 performances in NBA history. Mitchell finished with 26 points, six rebounds, eight assists and zero turnovers to reach the conference finals for the first time in his career.
“A breath of fresh air,” Mitchell said of reaching the conference finals. “But like you said, this wasn’t the goal when we started the season. Even last year when we lost to Indiana we had our goals set on getting to the Finals and we’re just one step closer. But yeah, it’s been almost a decade of running into the same issue, right? So for sure, I can personally, and as a team we can breathe a little bit, but in the same token we can only breathe for about 12 hours and then get right back to it.”
The Cavaliers will return to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018, where they’ll face the New York Knicks, and will make their first trip to the ECF without LeBron James since 1992. Notably, the Cavaliers have never made the Finals without James.
“He was better than Donovan Mitchell. Is that possible? I don’t know, that’s like bad English,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “It started with him. His defense, rebounding and when he gets in the paint and starts making other people better — the dish-offs to our big guys. That was the key, I felt, to the game. He had complete control of the game.”
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Mitchell had been extremely inconsistent through the first six games of the series and was coming off a no-show in Game 6 on Friday night when he put up 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting from the field with a chance to clinch his first trip to the conference finals. He got another chance on Sunday and wouldn’t let it slip.
“He started out the game not trying to take it over, not trying to score every single basket,” Jarrett Allen said. “He started the game trying to distribute the ball. I think that’s huge for a leader like him. Trying to get everybody else going and then getting himself going second.”
Mitchell’s eight assists were his most in a game this postseason, and he became the first guard since Kobe Bryant in 2002 to have at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists with zero turnovers in a Game 7.
The Cavaliers will need this version of Mitchell, a new York native, against the Knicks if they want to pull off an upset in that series. He’s struggled at times this postseason, but when he plays well, the Cavaliers win. They are now 5-1 when Mitchell scores at least 25 points and 3-5 when he does not.
“Me and my fianceé joked that we’d be at home regardless, right?” Mitchell said. “So we might as well play some basketball while we’re at the crib. It’s gonna be special for sure.”
