In Praise of Donovan Mitchell

Sometimes, you can just tell. When a guy locks in, and his face goes deathly serious. Even when he starts talking shit, you can see the edge, that this isn't fun talking, but a proclamation. That was the look Donovan Mitchell had when he checked back into the game toward the end of the third quarter. And it spelled doom for the C's. It's not the first Mitchell has flipped a game on its head, and it won't be the last, and as infuriating as it is to watch as it happened, it's a beautiful thing.

When Mitchell checked back in with 2:55 remaining in the third quarter last night, Boston was up 10, and Cleveland hadn't been closer than eight points at any point in the quarter. On their first offensive play, Mitchell didn't come off a screen quickly enough, and Evan Mobley went to Evan Hunter. That was the last time Mitchell didn't get the ball when he wanted it. On the following possession, he got off quicker, and buried a three in Jayson Tatum's face. It was the start of a personal 10-0 Mitchell run that also included him beating Al Horford and Luke Kornet off the dribble for a floater, a wide-open three as the trailer in transition when for some reason nobody bothered picking him up (Derrick White should have been, but White was the first one back to guard the ball. Horford or Kornet should have turned and found Mitchell, but in transition, that's easier said than done), and a very soft foul on Kornet, where Mitchell actually hooked Kornet's arm before going up. It should have been a no-call, but Mitchell fell down, and thus got the call. At the time, I waved it off because it looked like Mitchell had really hurt himself, so I thought at least he got what he deserved.

Perhaps he was hurt, because he then missed a heave-ish shot at the third quarter buzzer, and then was quiet for the first few minutes of the fourth. But the first mission was accomplished, Mitchell irrevocably made it a game. That's what teams need stars to do. He finished the job in the fourth.

The most important low-key play of the quarter may have been Mitchell's assist to Evan Mobley to give Cleveland its first lead with 8:42 left in the fourth quarter. It wasn't a complicated play – he just hit him in stride for a lightly contested three. But it was the correct decision, and what's more, it forced Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla to sub out Kornet and Payton Pritchard. More on that below. From that point on, Mitchell would not relinquish the lead. I don't mean that the Cavs would not relinquish, I mean specifically that Donovan Mitchell would not relinquish the lead. For the remainder of the quarter, there were three instances where the C's got within one point or tied it. Each time, Mitchell had an immediate answer:

• 8:22: Tatum hits lay-up to cut deficit to 104-103. Mitchell hits floater to make it 106-103.
• 7:49: Jaylen Brown hits three to tie it at 106-106. Mitchell hits step-back three to make it 109-106.
• 3:15: Brown hits pull-up two to tie it at 114-114. Mitchell hits floater to make it 116-114.

After JB missed a lay-up, Mitchell then put in a lay-up of his own and got fouled. The five-point swing was irrevocable. Tatum would commit a silly foul on a screen, and then White missed a long three. In essence, the team's three-best players whiffed on the final three important possessions, and Mitchell didn't.

This is the magic of Donovan Mitchell. I've seen it before in person, in Game 2 of the second round last season. He can take over any game at any time with his offense. After he hits a few shots and breaks a few ankles, the other team can get sped up and forget themselves. The question is whether it can happen consistently enough to get the Cavs a championship ring. Mitchell scored even more efficiently in that Game 3, but it wasn't enough and the Cavs lost, and his DNP for the final two games of the series essentially should have been listed as "shame." There was no surgery in Mitchell's future. He was a little banged up and chose not to dress, because it was clear the C's were going to win anyway.

It looks like it'll be different this season, because he has become much more consistent. Mitchell is playing the best basketball of his career, and should be no lower than fifth on the MVP ballot, and there's a pretty good argument to finish in the top three, and last night was a vivid example of why.

Bench Fell Apart

As mentioned above, Evan Mobley gave the Cavs their first lead early in the fourth quarter, and Mazzulla subbed out Luke Kornet and Payton Pritchard. There was good reason. Kornet and Pritchard were awful last night. Kornet was -26 and Pritchard was -36. Both marks were the worst of their respective careers. Not of the season – of their entire careers. Counting the postseason. Kornet has played in 364 NBA games; Pritchard 384. For them both to have their worst games ever at the exact same time...look, I'm not a mathematician, but the odds have to be pretty long.

It also left Mazzulla with no choice but to stick with Sam Hauser, because for some reason Mazzulla flatly refuses to play Torrey Craig (even Drew Peterson got run over him last night). When Mobley hit the three to give Cleveland its first lead, Hauser had played 20:49 of the prior 23:11 of game minutes, and there was 8:42 remaining in the game. Hauser had checked back into the game with 7:53 left in the second, and started the third. He got a breather from 2:55 to 0:33 left in the third. If you'll recall, that is exactly when Mitchell went on his personal 10-0 run, and so back in came Hauser. By the time Hauser checked back out of the game with 50 seconds left in the fourth, he had played 28:41 of the prior 31:03 minutes. And boy, did it show.

Hauser, who was good in the first half – his six first-half rebounds were second in the whole game only to Tatum, and he helped keep Jarrett Allen off the glass – was not at all effective in the second half, but he had to soak up the minutes anyway. With Kornet and Pritchard playing terribly, and Mazzulla refusing to play Craig or Jordan Walsh (and Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday on the shelf), Hauser got the call. Even three minutes from one of them at some point would have been big, but it didn't happen that way.

Zooming out, the two biggest regular-season, non-overtime games in terms of minutes played Hauser has ever played were Tuesday in Toronto and last night. Why this is happening is completely mystifying. This is the precise reason the team signed Torrey Craig and drafted Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman. Mazzulla needs to pick at least one wing to learn how to trust over the final month-plus, because asking Hauser to play those kind of minutes sandwiched around a game when he was listed on the injury report with a back injury (Wednesday, when he only played 12 minutes) is as close to coaching malpractice as you can get.