Seizing the moment
For Donovan Mitchell, a breakthrough moment has arrived.
He’s going to the conference finals for the first time.
In his ninth season, Mitchell has reached the NBA’s final four. He and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled past the Detroit Pistons 125-94 on Sunday night in Game 7—on the road, no less—of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Their reward is a trip to New York for Game 1 of the East finals against the Knicks on Tuesday.
Mitchell had 26 points, seven rebounds and eight assists to lead Sunday’s romp. And when his night was over with 4:01 remaining, he had handshakes and hugs for anyone wearing Cleveland colors. He even leaned down to wrap his arms around Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson, who was seated and seemed to be still locked in to the game.
“This is fantastic. I’m excited, believe me. But we’ve got to be more disciplined…in two days,” Mitchell said in a postgame interview with the hosts of the Amazon Prime coverage of the NBA. “We shouldn’t have to wait to get hit, to get punched in the mouth and face a go-home situation.”
Mitchell was brought to Cleveland in September 2022 in a trade with Utah, with the Cavaliers betting—correctly, it turned out—that he would be the last piece of their post-LeBron James rebuild and help them return to the playoffs.
They got to the first round in 2023, then lost in the second round in 2024 and 2025. This year, the conference finals await after the third-biggest road win a team has ever had in a Game 7.
Mitchell has been an All-Star in each of the last seven seasons, was one of eight players to receive at least one vote in this year’s MVP balloting and will likely be an All-NBA pick for the third time.
But there was a void—the deep playoff run.
Not anymore.
And not that it really mattered.
“Honestly, I don’t think anything’s changed,” he said. “I’ve been the same guy. I think as a leader, I’ve definitely grown but sometimes it’s just circumstances…Sometimes it’s just not your time.”
Indeed, there were so many near misses. Mitchell’s Utah team wasted a 3-1 lead in the 2020 playoff bubble against Denver in the West semifinals, falling in seven games. A year later, the Jazz were up 2-0 in Round 2 against the Los Angeles Clippers, who ended up winning in six. He got hurt in Round 2 against Boston as that series fell apart for Cleveland in 2024 and last year the Cavaliers went 0-3 at home in the second round against Indiana on the way to a five-game ouster.
He was part of a No. 1 seed in 2021, part of a No. 1 seed again last year and never got out of Round 2.
Until now.
And he isn’t about to stop.
“We didn’t get here to be just here,” he said. “I’m not going to New York [and be] happy that we got here. [The Knicks] have been off for what almost looks like three weeks, it seems, and for us, they’ll be well-rested and we have to continue the momentum.”
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