Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers have their four-game win streak on the line Tuesday night, with the reigning NBA champions Boston Celtics visiting them at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The game was expected to be an entertaining one as it features not just two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference but also among the best in the league overall.
Mitchell already provided a huge highlight in the first quarter when he soared to the rim for a monster slam dunk that put Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis on a poster.
The former Louisville Cardinals star used the space Boston gave him and simply exploded to the basket before throwing it down in the face of Boston’s towering center. Mitchell started the play from outside the 3-point line, with Cavs center Jarrett Allen seemingly providing a ghost screen. Allen appeared to have anticipated a pick-and-roll play, as he looked ready to receive a pass from Mitchell. What Allen thought was a pass was instead a perfectly executed push dribble by Mitchell to set himself up for the powerful finish at the rim.
The Cavs’ spacing during that play also helped Mitchell. Porzingis can be seen being stretched out in the perimeter with a Cleveland shooter on the right corner while Derrick White was on the other side unable to help because of Darius Garland’s threat as a shooter in case of a Mitchell kickout pass.
Of course, fans have a lot to say about Donovan Mitchell’s posterization of Porzingis.
“Okay @NBATopShot give us this throwdown,” shared a fan.
“dunk of the year candidate,” said another.
“Tingus Pingus thought he could block that,” an X (formerly Twitter) user commented.
“Damn looks just like prime Dwade,” a different comment read.
Via another fan: “bawd gawd that’s Donovan Mitchell’s music!”
“Not a single a** in the seat after that one! #letemknow,” said a hyped Cavs supporter.
The Cavs also had another highlight at the expense of Porzingis, with Allen rejecting the Latvian star’s dunk attempt on the other side of the floor.
The Cavaliers entered the Boston game with a 40-9 record and tied with the Celtics at 1-1 in the regular-season series.
