If there was such a thing as early-season MVP, Donovan Mitchell would be on the short list of candidates. Mitchell is playing out of his mind for the Cavaliers, who have raced out to a 5-1 start after rallying past the Knicks on Sunday.
The same Knicks, of course, who were widely believed to be the frontrunner to land Mitchell in an offseason trade before Cleveland swooped in and stole him. After watching Mitchell put up 38 points, including eight 3-pointers, and 12 assists on Sunday, might the Knicks’ brass be regretting their decision to not meet Utah’s asking price by including Quentin Grimes or another unprotected pick, as multiple reports indicated was the holdup, for Mitchell?
At the time, I thought the Knicks caught a lucky break with Utah opting for the Cleveland offer. I didn’t think a Jalen Brunson-Mitchell backcourt could survive defensively and I believed, and still believe, RJ Barrett is going to be really good. So far, Mitchell’s defensive effort has been outstanding in Cleveland, and Barrett has struggled out of the gate. Let’s not get too shortsighted, though.
Long term, the Knicks are still in a good place. Brunson has been fantastic. With a properly reduced initiation role, Julius Randle has looked a lot better than last season. New York’s bench is fast and fun, and those eight trade-eligible draft picks are still sitting in the chamber.
Still, it had to hurt watching Mitchell go bananas on Sunday. The Knicks led by nine at the start of the fourth quarter. They lost by 13, 121-108. That’s a 22-point fourth-quarter swing, and Mitchell, along with Kevin Love, had everything to do with it. Mitchell, who has drained 13 of his last 22 3s and is up to 45 percent from deep for the season, scored 12 of his 38 in the final frame, including a pair of 3s (one a successful four-point play) and this nasty spin move and dunk.
Love, who added eight 3s of his own en route to 29 points and eight boards, hit four triples in the fourth, three of which were assisted by Mitchell. All told, the Cavs hit 23 of 50 from downtown (46 percent) — 22 of which came from Love, Mitchell and Dean Wade. That goes down as an NBA record for combined 3s by a trio of teammates in a single game.
In addition, Love and Mitchell became just the second teammate duo in NBA history to each hit at least eight 3s in the same game.
If you’re thinking the other duo to accomplish this feat…
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