Mitchell made Cavs dynamic
He added playmaking to normal hot scoring
This time, Donovan mitchell got the help he needed.
The cavaliers star had averaged 40.6 points and 29.3 shot attempts over the three games leading up to cleveland’s 118-94 blowout win over the celtics at TD Garden in Game 2 of the eastern conference semifinals Thursday night.
The cavaliers went 1-2 during that stretch, and the celtics wiped them off the floor in Game 1 of this series because cleveland’s offensive production outside of mitchell was lacking. he scored 33 points in that game, but the cavs ended up with just 95.
Game 2 was a completely different story. The cavaliers had their highest-scoring performance of the postseason as mitchell distributed the ball and got his teammates going early. mitchell had nearly as many assists (5) as shot attempts (6) at halftime.
he finished with 29 points on 10-for-19 shooting to go with eight assists against one turnover in an efficient and well-rounded performance.
“i just tried to find ways to manipulate the game,” mitchell said. “Obviously, they guarded me a little bit different, a little bit higher on the pick-and-rolls, so [evan mobley] was more open.
“Now they’re attracting guys on the ball, they’re trying to take away my transition buckets, so guys are open. Just trying to find ways to control the game in that way.”
mitchell still carried his share of the offensive load, scoring 23 of his 29 in the second half. he just approached things differently, according to cleveland guard caris leVert.
“i told Don during the game that i think he did a great job of allowing everyone to get going early in the first half,” leVert said. “he did a great job of picking his spots in the second half and being the great player that he is.
”but i think that was all opened up with him sometimes just getting off the ball, letting it play second side, letting guys get downhill. i think it just opened it up for him when he wanted to pick his spots and just be Donovan mitchell, and it was huge for us.”
mitchell tested the celtics’ pick-and-roll defense and showed that they need improvement in that area, coach Joe mazzulla said. mazzulla added that the celtics must do more to make mitchell uncomfortable when he doesn’t have the ball.
There was a pick-and-pop play in the third quarter when mitchell screened sam hauser, causing hauser to switch onto him and Derrick White to switch onto max strus. mitchell clapped his hands aggressively and called for the ball when he saw that he had hauser on him. he lowered his shoulder, charged into the paint, and finished a 9-foot pullup through hauser’s contact for an and-1.
There was another possession in the fourth when strus bumped Jaylen brown, allowing mitchell to get a step on him while curling to the top of the key. Tristan Thompson handed off the ball to mitchell, who had enough space to bank in a three.
“creating separation before the point of attack,” mazzulla said. “They’re using offball to get him off there. so we’ve just got to be a little bit more physical with our off-ball.
”They got some of those that were communication. i think he hit one pick-and-roll one, and then the rest of the threes came in just our miscommunication, our body position at times. Just kind of have to clean up those technical things of our individual defense.”
Part of the issue, brown said, was that mitchell simply hit difficult shots, including a highlight-reel 28-foot buzzer-beater over Jayson Tatum to close out the third quarter.
The bulk of mitchell’s scoring came from beyond the arc. he went 5 for 6 from 3-point range in the second half.
“he made some tough shots tonight, some tough contested threes,” brown said. “We’ve got to be up, but he’s a basketball player. We’ve got to have a little bit more alertness to him and we’ve just got to take that challenge.
“Tonight he got the best of us, made some tough baskets, felt free to get downhill. We’ve just got to keep making it tough.”
cleveland punished the celtics inside the paint, where they were outscored, 60-44. The threat of mitchell’s outside scoring ability helped open things up inside even before his shot started falling. All five cleveland starters scored in double figures.
mitchell’s willingness to create for others reinvigorated the cavaliers offense and led to them shooting 54.7 percent from the field.
“i feel like [it’s] his gravity,” mobley said. “Guys aren’t really going to help off of him because they know he can shoot the ball, so that just opens up the paint for everyone else and our pick-and-roll on the second side.
“max is a shooter as well. it just spaces the floor out, gets our spacing right, and just makes it easier for us.”