Ever since he won the Slam Dunk Contest during his rookie season, Donovan Mitchell has established himself as one of the league’s best dunkers — particularly among smaller guards. He added to his resume on Tuesday night with a potential dunk of the year candidate.
Early in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Eastern Conference showdown with the defending champion Boston Celtics, Mitchell split through the defense and exploded to the basket. Kristaps Porzingis was right there to challenge him, but Mitchell won the duel in emphatic fashion. He threw down a thunderous one-hand jam that got the crowd on its feet, then kicked the ball to celebrate.
Though Mitchell’s thunderous slam will end up among the best dunks of the year, the night belonged to the Celtics, who prevailed with a 112-105 road win. Mitchell led all scorers with 31 points, but it wasn’t enough as Cleveland saw its four-game winning streak come to an end.
Mitchell’s individual numbers have dropped across the board this season under new coach Kenny Atkinson, who has instilled a collective approach and insisted on limiting his main guy’s minutes during the regular season. As a result, Mitchell entered Tuesday night putting up “just” 23.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.
While Mitchell admitted that it took him a while to get used to the new approach, neither he nor anyone else in Cleveland can argue with the results.
“Going this way, playing less minutes, that’s been the most different for me,” Mitchell said. “Winning cures everything and that is the most important thing. I had to get used to knowing that I can’t take that BS shot. But there is so much talent on this team, and it’s easy to recognize that. I think that the way the veterans were on me in Utah, the way they groomed me, that’s the same thing that I’m trying to do to these guys.”
The Cavaliers started the season 15-0 and fell to 40-10 after the loss to the Celtics, which is still good for the best record in the league and a 4.5-game lead over Boston (36-15) at the top of the East.
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