To say that Donovan Mitchell has a phenomenal first season as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers would be an understatement. Mitchell elevated himself as one of the league’s elite players while guiding the Cavs to a playoffs and homecourt advantage in the first round. Mitchell was bound to be ready for the Cavs playoff home-opener against the New York Knicks on Saturday and sure enough he came out firing to the tune of 38 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Unfortunately for the Cavs, they dropped Game 1, 101-97 and now face a must-win Game 2 to avoid completely losing homecourt advantage. But they can rest assured the Mitchell will show up as he became the first player in Cavs playoff history to drop at least 30 points, five rebounds, five assists and five made three-point shots as per the Twitter page StatMuse.
The Cavs will need another huge game from Donovan Mitchell if they want to tie this series up. Mitchell was a very good playoff performer during his days as a member of the Utah Jazz. In five trips to the postseason, Mitchell was averaging 28.3 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals with shooting splits of 43.1 percent shooting from the field, 36.9 percent shooting from the three-point line and 86.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
This season, his first as a Cav, he was averaging a career-high 28.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.5 steals with shooting splits of 48.4 percent shooting from the field, 38.6 percent shooting from the three-point line and 86.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line.