Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell reflected on a past playoff series during the second year of his career when asked whether the No. 3 seed is still in reach, Cleveland.com Cavs reporter Chris Fedor wrote in a Friday tweet.
“You never know,” Donovan Mitchell said. “I will never forget my second year, we were not supposed to play the Houston Rockets.
“I think we had a better chance of getting struck by lightning statistically & we ended up playing them.”
The Utah Jazz won 14 of their last 20 games in the 2018-19 season, pushing them to the fifth spot in the Western Conference and a matchup with the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, according to Basketball Reference. The Rockets won the series in five games behind an explosion in scoring from guard James Harden, who scored 27.8 points and dished eight assists per game, before moving on to a series against the Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors.
The Cavaliers have five games left in their 82-game schedule. Two games against the Orlando Magic and matchups with the Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets will remain following a Friday game against the New York Knicks.
The Philadelphia 76ers sit 2.5 games ahead of Cleveland at third place in the Eastern Conference with six games remaining. The 50-win Sixers will face the Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat in their next four games before taking on the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets are sixth in the East following a 123-114 win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. They sit at 1.5 games ahead of the Heat, who the Nets defeated in a 29-point victory at FTX Arena last Saturday.
The Cavs will tip off against the Knicks at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Friday in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The game will be broadcasted on Bally Sports Ohio.