Without Jarrett Allen, it looked like the Cleveland Cavaliers were in trouble. No one could stop the wrath of the Paolo Banchero-led Orlando Magic for a while and it looked like they were going to advance. Thankfully, Donovan Mitchell stepped on the gas pedal and had a heavy foot that never went up again. He clutched it up to help the Cavs advance in the NBA Playoffs and earn them a shot to upset the Boston Celtics.
The second round of the NBA Playoffs is complete. It will be the Cavs facing the loaded Celtics team. This was after Donovan Mitchell led his team to one of the greatest comebacks in Game 7 history. At one point, they were down by 18 points in the second quarter of this matchup. This was the biggest deficit that any team ever in the postseason had to overcome and they were triumphant in it.
A lot of it had to do with the Cavs’ second-half adjustments. They suffocated the Magic on all three levels of scoring while also clogging up driving lanes to prevent easy buckets. This led to a horrible collapse which ended in Paolo Banchero’s squad only knocking down a horrid total of 29 field goals out of 86 attempts.
The strategy in the Cavs’ offense was also quite simple. It’s to get an easy inside pass to let Donovan Mitchell draw the contact or make the easy shot. This NBA Playoffs clash ended with the Cavs notching 50 points. Meanwhile, the Magic got dwarfed as they only had 28 of them. The fact that they also got fouled 32 times made it easier for the Cavs to slow the pace of the game down.
It all added up to the Cavs’ first NBA Playoffs series win without LeBron James. When was the last time that happened, you ask? It was in 1993, per StatMuse.
Donovan Mitchell’s heroics in Cavs vs. Magic
© Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
When the moment calls for it, the stars always come out. Donovan Mitchell is familiar with the situation of getting pushed into a deciding game for the series. This is why it did not faze him that the Magic were up big by one point because he knew games were won in the second half.
He showed out and etched his name in the history books after this NBA Playoffs triumph. Mitchell may have only knocked down a meager 11 out of his 27 field goals but going 15 for 17 on his free throws was such a big help. He was able to lead the Cavs in scoring and even edged out Banchero for the game-high record. This was the first time that this had happened in a Game 7 since James Harden did it in 2015.
This insane scoring outburst also puts Mitchell’s name alongside two other stars. The first being LeBron James after becoming the only other Cavs players to score 30+ points in a Game 7. Allen Iverson is the other because Mitchell recorded 89 points in the last two games of this NBA Playoffs series. This is the second-most all-time after the Philadelphia 76ers star got 90 in the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals series.
Will this be enough to earn them a few wins against a squad looking for their 18th banner?