BOSTON -- The Cavs stole Game 2 of the conference semifinals, 118-94, against the Boston Celtics on Thursday night at TD Garden.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 29 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds. Mitchell is the second player in Cavs franchise history with at least 25 points in five-straight playoff games, the other is LeBron James. He also had the third highest plus/minus (+38) in a playoff game by a Cavs player since 2003, James (+46) and Kevin Love (+43) are the only above Mitchell with their performances from 2017.
Here’s what Mitchell said after the contest:
More Cavs coverage
What did you like most about this performance from you guys tonight?
“I think the biggest thing was a complete performance. I said to Cassidy earlier, it started with Ev setting the tone. It got him going. He was aggressive, dominant, and then it continued through everybody else. But you look at the box score, you look at the rebounding, you look at the assists, you look at obviously the points, but it’s a group effort. It was great to see tonight and just continuing to play that way and learning from our lapses in Game 1, which was huge.”
You had a majority of your assists in the first half and you did most of your scoring in the second half. Just how purposeful was it for you to try and get everybody else involved before getting yours?
“I felt like just finding ways to get guys, especially on the road, get guys confidence going. Just tried to find ways to manipulate the game. Obviously, they guarded me a little bit different. They were a little bit higher on the pick and roll, so Ev was more open. They’re trying to take away my transition bucket so guys are open. Trying to find ways to control the game in that way. Then in the second half, when you’ve got guys that are making shots and finding it, it’s human nature to kind of go back to your man and kind of spread the game out. Just trying to find ways to manipulate it and tonight was good.”
It’s a tie ball game at half and you have six points. Do you go in the locker room thinking we’re tied and I haven’t really scored that much?
“Just trying to find ways to, like I said, get guys involved early and then just picking my spots, continuing to find ways to apply pressure. In the second half it was scoring. I’ve said it all year. Sometimes it’s assists, sometimes it’s rebounds, whatever it takes. Then when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. I knew at some point I was going to have to start shooting. Just trying to, like I said, manipulate the game, pick my spots, and I feel like I did a pretty good job of that tonight.”
You said last series that it’s not always going to be pretty, and, in fact, times that it will be ugly. You guys throughout the year have done some ugly stuff. You’ve had some tough losing streaks. You’ve had bad injuries. Last series was rough. You got beat by 25 the other night. None of this stuff has knocked you out. Why is that? What does that say?
“I think the biggest thing is we have a group that sticks together and believes in each other. Even when we were going through that streak in L.A., it is easy to kind of be like, ‘We don’t got it, we don’t have it.’ Everybody’s like you want to trend upward in the playoffs and different things. But understanding that we’ve been through so much, so why stop now? Continuing to believe in each other. We’ve had guys in. We have guys out. We’ve played terrible. We’ve played well. Like I said in the regular season, I’m glad it happened then so you understand when those moments come in playoffs, you have two good games at home, get smacked twice on the road, come back, have a good game, lose Game 6, that can knock you out like you said. But for us it’s continuing to build and we believe in each other as a group. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Evan’s obviously had some really big defensive moments in playoffs like Game 7 in particular. What did it mean to you to see him being able to have the impact on Jayson [Tatum] and Jaylen [Brown] in particular at the rim that he was able to?
“Yeah, I think for him, that’s where he’s at his best, continuing to protect the paint, making it tough, and then us rotate around him. I think it was huge. Especially tonight, the way even having him guard them on the ball, you know what I mean? Being able to deter them on their layups and other shots, it’s not easy attacking Ev like that. Just to have him being able to be that dominant, but also giving us the offensive production was big time.”
You said going into the series, you knew that people weren’t picking you to win. You guys were double-digit underdogs tonight. You had the biggest win by a double-digit underdog in 35 years or so, maybe more. How did it feel to walk off the court four minutes before the game is over with that, being able to quiet the crowd?
“It’s always good to get a win on the road. But at the end of the day, it’s one game. It was good to get the win. We did a lot of really positive things. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Got to take care of our home court. It’s nice to get this win. But at the end of the day, we got one day to prepare and get ready to prepare to protect home court.”
You guys had about 60 points in the paint tonight, and it wasn’t just Evan. It was you, Isaac, what did you guys see in film early on in the game that said that you could get inside?
“Just attacking gaps. I felt like in transition they’re staying on me, kind of protecting the lane so now you’re getting off it and Ev’s bringing the ball up, there’s a lane for him for handoffs, not settling for the 3s, getting into the paint and that naturally will create help situations and that’s where we get our looks. As a group, just continuing to find ways to get downhill and attack. It came from everybody. Then also shot 46% from 3. I think that definitely helps. But just continuing to try to get in there and create plays. It’s not always going to be for the finish. Sometimes it’s going to be to create for others.”
As the leader of the team, how important was it for you to set the tone?
“I think coming into the game, it’s not always going to be scoring. Trying to get guys going early, and understanding I can get mine in different scenarios when I would like. But just understanding that I can’t do it by myself. It’s a group thing. I said that after the other day. I trust my guys. Last game was what it was, but understand I’m going to continue to make those plays, continue to believe in them because we’ve worked together and we’ve shown that we can do this as a group. Coming in the first half, understanding that getting Ev going, Isaac was going, D.G., Caris, get those guys going. Max. Just trying to get them touches, get them a feeling of being involved and understanding that I’m going to have the ball at some point in time and continue to set the tone. That’s just my job.”
Start of the fourth, you banked in that three, give a little shrug. What’s going your mind?
“I don’t want to curse to get fined. I don’t know. I just was like, ‘Alright, that’s where it’s at.’ Sometimes you get lucky. It was on line. I knew it was going to be long. I didn’t think it’d hit the glass. But I was trying to draw the foul. Obviously, Jaylen did a good job of stopping to not foul me. Shooters shoot.”
How do you view the series at this point, heading home? Do you feel like you stole a game? Do you feel like you’re even? Do you feel like you have a little bit of an advantage?
“We’re even. Now we have to go do it. This game means nothing if we don’t take care of home court. At the end of the day, we took home court and a series doesn’t start until somebody wins on the road. We did that. Now we’ve got to go protect home court. Simple as that.”
Can you describe what it feels like for you in the second half where it seems like you’re in a flow? Before this game, you’ve had obviously a lot of those moments before, what’s the mentality and the feeling for you when you’re getting off the drive? Hitting from three?
“Whatever’s necessary. Whatever the game calls for is kind of my mindset. Understanding that especially in that third quarter, setting the tone, me being aggressive because we’ve had some good third quarters and we’ve had some rough ones in these playoff series. So kind of me being the one to set that tone as far as getting to the rim and knocking down shots, whatever it may be. But also defensively trying to set that tone, getting on the boards and trying to create the breaks in that way. I’ve been saying this is what I do. It’s just a matter of continuously doing my job on a night to night basis and whatever that calls for each night, being the leader and being that guy, that’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Starting the second quarter didn’t go well for you guys again with you on the bench. At what point did you have a conversation with J.B. [Bickerstaff] about making sure that you started the fourth quarter?
“At half time I was just like I don’t plan on coming out. That was the mindset. He asked me if I needed one with about 45 or whatever the possession was before they had the two for one or whatever, before we had the two for one or whatever it was. I was like, ‘No, I’m good. I feel good. You can keep me in.’
You know Jaylen [Brown] really well. He knows you really well. You were able to get by at the point of attack, really get by all the guys point of attack. What are you doing even before you get the ball in your hands when you get into attack mode?
“Just attacking in space. They have a lot of really good defenders, so just trying to find my attacks in the gaps and tonight they guarded me a little bit differently than the night before. Just getting out in space, the threat of the 3-ball definitely helps because now you have to press up, you have to respect it to be able to move. At the end of the day, just trying to pick my spots. That’s the biggest thing. I did it tonight. We’ve got to do it again and again and again.”
If you or a loved one has questions and needs to talk to a professional about gambling, call the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-589-9966 or the National Council on Program Gambling Helpline (NCPG) at 1-800-522-4700 or visit 1800gambler.net for more information. 21+ and present in Ohio. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.