Donovan Mitchell will not let Cavsa quietly after ‘one of the best seasons in my life’

Note the editor: Donovan Mitchell took Cleveland Cavaliers to win 3 semifinals of the Eastern Conference. Mitchell recently spoke with Fox Sports’ Melissa Rohlin about his top season. The original story continues as follows.

Donovan Mitchell I didn’t expect it to be this happy.

When Utah jazz He decided to trade it in the summer of 2022, hoping he would land in his hometown in New York. So, when they sent him to Cleveland, he had no idea he would feel the way he does 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: Did I want to go home? I mean, yes, of course. But coming here, looking at the group we had, understanding what we could continue to build, was not long before I was, man, this is special.”

Mitchell, who was named All-Star in February for sixth season, helped Cavaliers Opening NBA Open the season with a record of 15-0 and ending up as the best seed at the Eastern Conference and the second best record in the league with 64-18.

Mitchell also brought jazz and cavaliers to Play -every of his eight seasons in the NBA, but never progressed in the second round.

He hopes that could change this year.

But in surprising development, Mitchell now finds his cavalie in a 2-0 hole against Indiana Pacers In his second playoff round, with play 3 in Indiana on Friday.

Mitchell poured out his heart in game 2, finishing with 48 points, nine aids, five lines and four of the performance at the loss of 120-119 Cavaliers. Abbreviated cavaliers – no defensive player of the year Evan Mobley (ankle), de’andre hunter (thumb) and Darius Garland (toe) – he led as many as 20 points including seven points in the last 50 seconds, before Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton He made a 3 winning win with the remaining 1.1 seconds.

It was demolished for Mitchell, who put on a robe despite being involved in sick calf and cramps. But when asked how cavaliers could recover from this mental impact, he did not hesitate.

“You have no choice,” Mitchell said. “We could sit here and stay on it and be at home for about four or five days. Either we can move on and take some things we really did well and go from there. I have no doubt that everyone in that locker room is ready for Friday. It’s shit, it comes in, but we have to go out and take care of the job. Otherwise, that’s it.”

Mitchell hopes the cavaliers will be able to reverse things.

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They played for each other for the other season, and Mitchell led by example by taking on a smaller role in the offensive end to allow Garland and Mobley to become the best versions of themselves. The Cavaliers ended with the highest rated offense (121) in the league this season.

For Mitchella, the sacrifice for his team was irregular.

In Utah it was not only that he experienced a seemingly endless downhill disappointment on the field, but he was dealing with racism beyond him. In Cleveland, he finally feels like he belongs.

“The city of Cleveland really won me over,” Mitchell told Fox Sports. “I really enjoy being there. I feel at home. That’s my biggest thing. Basketball will be basketball. But you spend most of my time there and I feel like it’s at home. I feel safe. I feel like I’m in peace. And that’s really one of the biggest things for me.”

This season, Mitchell has made his least shots on average of his rookie campaign (18.6) and had a career in minutes (31.4), a selfless act for a player who is able to score 71 points in the game, as he did for the Cavaliers 2023.

However, despite the ending with less permeable statistics than otherwise this season (24 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5 assists in the game), his name was sublime. He considered a strong candidate that he was appointed the first All-Nba team for the first time in his career, as well as that he may have ended up in the first five of the MVP voting.

In the meantime, the Cavaliers have increased, breaking expectations and obtaining respect as true candidates for the championship.

The city has not had so many hopes since Lebron James two athletes with the Cavaliers, which included the reach of the Four Ravn season (2015-2018) finals and led them to their first 2016 championship, before leaving in a free agency in the summer of 2018.

The Cavaliers missed the post -season four seasons in a row from 2019 to 2022 before Mitchell arrived. 2023. Mitchell took them to the first round of playoffs. Last season he brought them to the second round where they lost to the eventual Champion Boston Celtics.

Mitchell is well aware that he has breathed a new life into a city obsessed with a sport that wants to experience size again.

In fact, he wants to redefine the inheritance of the Cavaliers from the franchise that completely depends on James to determine its peak and Nadirs, to a team that can reach the top with the new set of stars.

“We’re not talking about it for the first time since Lebron left,” Mitchell told Fox Sports that the Cavaliers were candidates. “I think it is more by making it as a group and being special. I think it’s something we definitely want to do for our right. Lebron has done incredible things for the franchise. Now is the time to try to continue to bring another championship to the city.”

For Mitchella, it will be a sublime battle.

Cavaliers were disparaged by injuries and two All-Stars miss Game 2. Haliburton transformed from the most respected player in the NBA poll From their peers, to become a player with the most clutch in this postseason. Mitchell gave everything that has this series, an average of 40.5 points while he was a passionate defender, but that was not enough.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.

But Mitchell just nibbling teeth harder.

He knows what the cavaliers are capable of achieving. They had the most wins in 15 years of this season. They made up for their extraordinary start of 15-0 with 16 matches that extended to mid-March.

This team has something special.

Because of this, Mitchell, who did not want to land in Cleveland three years ago, agreed to a three -year, $ 150.3 million of extension of the contract with the team last July.

In fact, Mitchell made that decision six months earlier, while playing a game of regular season in Paris as part of the NBA initiative for global games against Brooklyn Netswho, ironic, was one of the teams he initially hoped to join.

At the time, Mitchell realized that he was related to his teammates. He fell in love with Cleveland. And in the middle of the rumor that he would leave, he decided he would stay.

“When we were in Paris, it just felt different,” Mitchell told Fox Sports. “You had that feeling that you wanted to be here. And I felt it early. But once we made a trip in Paris, I knew I was coming back, for sure.”

Now Mitchell is pouring into the resuscitation of the Cavaliers season.

He not only found a great team in Cleveland, but also found home.

And while his journey to winning his first championship became more serpentine, he is ready for the challenge.

“That’s what you play for,” Mitchell told Fox Sports. “You continue to run into the wall and, how do you understand that? That didn’t happen in Utah. And the goal is to do it here.”

Melissa Rohlin is Nba Writer for Fox Sports. Earlier covered the league for Sports Illustrated, Los Angeles Times, News Group for Bay Area and San Antonio Express-nws. Follow her on Twitter @Melisarohlin.

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