After the Cleveland Cavaliers closed out a Game 7 win over the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals, coach Kenny Atkinson singled out Donovan Mitchell in the visitors’ locker room. “We turn to you,” Atkinson told the team’s superstar, who had followed a 6-for-20, 18-point Game 6 with a 26-point effort on 10-for-22 shooting and a playoff-high eight assists to advance the Cavs.
Atkinson said he had planned to highlight Mitchell before the decisive game, regardless of the outcome, and praised more than his on-court play. “Not just your on court, but your leadership,” Atkinson said. “Your positivity when things were really not going great. Whether we won or lost tonight, we never celebrate you in these things — you don’t want that, you don’t want the praise — but tonight you deserve the praise.” He also acknowledged leaning on Mitchell earlier in the series, saying, “I know I leaned on him.”
Mitchell has appeared in the postseason in each of his first nine NBA seasons. His first three years in Cleveland ended in disappointment — including a first-round exit to the Knicks in 2023 and consecutive conference semifinal defeats — but in his ninth season he helped lead the Cavaliers to the conference finals for the first time.
The start of the conference finals has mirrored Cleveland’s volatile campaign. The Cavs blew a 22-point lead in Game 1 and lost Game 2 by 16, falling into an 0-2 hole. After the Game 2 loss, Mitchell said, “I’m not sitting here like, oh man, scrambling and trying to figure things out. At the end of the day, we make some shots, we’ll be in good shape. … We’ll make our adjustments. We’ll be at home and protect home court.” The series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3.
The franchise has leaned on Mitchell before under similar circumstances. On Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden the Cavs squandered a 17-point advantage, and Mitchell produced 34 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals but left the arena reflective. “You could just tell it really weighed on him,” Cavaliers forward Dean Wade told ESPN. In the locker room after the Detroit win, Mitchell told his teammates, “Enjoy it, but we didn’t just come here to do this.”
