Publisher’s note: Donovan Mitchell brought the Cleveland riders to a victory in match 3 of the semi-finals of the eastern conference. Mitchell recently spoke with Melissa Rohlin de Fox Sports about her superb season. The original story continues as follows.
Donovan Mitchell I did not expect to be This happy.
When Utah jazz decided to exchange him in the summer of 2022, he had hoped that he would land in his hometown of New York. So when he was sent to Cleveland, he did not know that he would feel what he was doing now.
“It was one of the best seasons in my life,” Mitchell told Fox Sports in an exclusive interview. “I’m glad I’m here. Obviously, it’s not a secret: I wanted to go home? I mean, yes, of course. But coming here, seeing the group we had, understanding what we could continue to build, it was not long before, guy, it’s special.”
Mitchell, who was appointed star for the sixth consecutive season in February, helped the Riders Stun The NBA by opening their season with a 15-0 file and ending as the seeded of the Eastern Conference, with the second best record in the League at 64-18.
Mitchell brought jazz and horsemen to the playoffs each of his eight seasons in the NBA, but he never passed in the second round.
He hopes it could change this year.
But in a surprising development, Mitchell now finds his riders in a 2-0 series hole against the Indiana Pacers In their second round eliminatory series, with match 3 in Indiana on Friday.
Mitchell poured his heart in match 2, finishing with a performance of 48 points, nine and nine assistants, five reimbursements and four flights in the defeat of the riders 120-119. Cavaliers in digital disadvantage – without defensive player of the year Evan Mobley (ankle) ,’Andre Hunter (Pouce) and Darius Garland (TOE) – led by 20 points, including seven points in the last 50 seconds, before Pacers Star Tyrese Haliburton Make a 3 winner 3 with 1.1 seconds to play.
It was overwhelming for Mitchell, who had put a cape despite the treatment of a calf and sick cramps. But when he was asked how the riders can recover from this mental blow, he did not hesitate.
“You have no choice,” said Mitchell. “We could sit here and dwell on it, and be at home in about four or five days. Or we could move on to something else and take certain things that we have done very well and from there. I have no doubt that everyone in this locker room is ready for Friday. It sucks, he stings, but we have to go there and take care of business. Otherwise.
Mitchell hopes that riders will be able to change things.
They played for each other all the season, Mitchell leading by example by playing a less role on the offensive side to allow Garland and Mobley to become the best versions of themselves. The riders finished with the best rated offensive (121) in the league this season.
For Mitchell, sacrificing for his team was obvious.
In Utah, not only did he experience a series of apparently endless disappointments on the ground, but he treated racism outside. In Cleveland, he finally has the impression that he belongs.
“The city of Cleveland really won me over,” Mitchell told Fox Sports. “I really like to be there. It’s like at home. It’s my greatest thing. Basketball will be basketball. But you spend most of your time there and I have the impression that it is at home. It is safe. I feel like you are in peace. And it is really one of the greatest things for me.”
This season, Mitchell has made the average shots since his recruit campaign (18.6) and had a career in a few minutes (31.4), an altruistic act for a player capable of scoring 71 points in a match, as he did for the riders in 2023.
However, despite the finish with less showy statistics than usual this season (24 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5 aid per game), his name was exalted. He is considered a strong competitor to be appointed for the first All-NBA team for the first time in his career, as well as perhaps finished in the top-five of the MVP vote.
Meanwhile, the horsemen have skyrocketed, breaking expectations and gaining respect as real contenders in the championship.
The city has not had so much hope since the two stays of LeBron James with the horsemen, who understood to reach the final four consecutive seasons (2015-2018), and to lead them to their first championship in 2016, before leaving for free agency in the summer of 2018.
The riders missed the four seasons of follow -up qualifiers for 2019 to 2022 before the arrival of Mitchell. In 2023, Mitchell transported them to the first round of the playoffs. Last season, he brought them in the second round, where they lost against the possible champion Boston Celtics.
Mitchell is well aware that he has inspired a new life in a city obsessed with sport that wants to feel great again.
In fact, he wants to redefine the inheritance of the riders to be a franchise which depends entirely on James to determine his pinnacles and nadirs to be a team that can reach the summit with a new set of stars.
“We do not necessarily speak that it is the first time that LeBron has left,” Mitchell told Fox Sports of the Cavaliers as a suitors. “I think that is more than what we can do in a group and be special. I think it is something that we really want to do in its own right. LeBron has done incredible things for the franchise. Now, it’s time for us to try to continue bringing another championship to the city.”
For Mitchell, it will be a difficult battle.
The riders are delighted by injuries, with two all-stars missing match 2. Haliburton took place from the label the most surfed player of the NBA in a survey By his peers, to become the most embarrassing player this series. Mitchell gave everything he has this series, with an average of 40.5 points while being an obstinate defender, but that was not enough.
“I don’t know what could do,” said horsemen, Kenny Atkinson.
But Mitchell is just the teeth stronger.
He knows what horsemen are able to accomplish. They won the most victories in 15 years this season. They succeeded in their remarkable 15-0 with a 16-game victory which extended in mid-March.
This team has something special.
This is why Mitchell, who did not want to land in Cleveland three years ago, accepted a contract extension of $ 150.3 million over three years with the team last July.
In fact, Mitchell made this decision six months earlier, while playing a regular season match in Paris as part of the Global Games of the NBA against the Brooklyn NetsWho ironically was one of the teams he was originally hoping to join.
At that time, Mitchell realized that he had linked to his teammates. He had fallen in love with Cleveland. And in the midst of the rumors he would leave, he decided that he was going to stay.
“When we were in Paris, it was just different,” Mitchell told Fox Sports. “You had the feeling that this is where you want to be. I felt so early. But once we made the trip to Paris, I knew I was coming back, that’s for sure.”
Now Mitchell pours into the resuscitation of the riders season.
In Cleveland, he not only found a big team, but he found a house.
And although his way to win his first championship has become more serpentine, he is ready to take up the challenge.
“That’s why you play,” Mitchell told Fox Sports. “You continue to run in a wall, and how do you understand it? It didn’t happen in Utah. And the goal is to do it here.”
Melissa Rohlin is a Nba Writer for Fox Sports. It previously covered the League for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Once, the information group in the Bay region and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow it on Twitter @Melissarohlin.
Donovan Mitchell
Cleveland riders
National Basketball Association
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