Donovan Mitchell’s Cavs Debut – Reaction/Grade Performance
Same face, new place for the All-Star Donovan Mitchell. After several seasons with the Utah Jazz, Donovan Mitchell made his season debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He arrived on a team with more weapons than his tenure with the Jazz. Mitchell wasted no time in performing exceptionally well in his Cavs debut. Mitchell went 12-for-21 from the field, dropping 31 points, nine assists and two rebounds. Despite his outstanding performance, it wasn’t enough to lift the Cavs to victory over Toronto Raptors. Cavs lost this game by the score of 108-105.
Darius Garland went down with an injury, which made a massive difference in the game. I hope this is not a long-term injury because you need Garland on this team to go deep in the playoffs. The Cavs were playing great until that injury happened in the 4th quarter. The Raptors took over the 4th quarter with their playmaking abilities and the Cavs just looked sloppy. Toronto made several big threes down the stretch. The Raptors outscored the Cavs by 11 points. Donovan Mitchell did a lot of the heavy lifting in this game. He kept them in this game—the most consistent Cavs player of the night. Mind you, Mitchell is still getting adjusted to playing with his new teammates.
Can you imagine if the Cavs didn’t have Donovan Mitchell in this game? The Cavs probably would’ve got blown out by the Raptors.
I also credit Jarrett Allen for being a great defensive rim protector in this game. Mitchell was the star of the game for the Cavs and Allen was the second-most impactful player for the Cavs.
As for Darius Garland, we will have to see how things will go with his injury status. It’s only one game. There’s a lot of positive signs for the Cavs going forward. We hope this injury doesn’t hurt the team.
Overall, I give Donovan Mitchell’s performance an A-. Jarrett Allen’s performance is a B. The Cavs as a whole is a B- caliber performance. The Cavs should’ve made some of those crucial free throws that could’ve made the difference in the game’s outcome.
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