{"id":763298,"date":"2022-10-20T14:12:46","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T18:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=763298"},"modified":"2022-10-20T14:16:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T18:16:43","slug":"comfortable-donovan-mitchell-drops-31-in-his-cleveland-cavaliers-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/news\/nba\/comfortable-donovan-mitchell-drops-31-in-his-cleveland-cavaliers-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Comfortable&#8217; Donovan Mitchell Drops 31 in His Cleveland Cavaliers Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In his first game with the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/cleveland-cavaliers-represents-by-taking-the-nba-all-star-skills-challenge\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"738862\" target=\"_blank\">Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>, it appears <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Donovan+Mitchell+\" target=\"_blank\">Donovan Mitchell<\/a> has embraced his new home and teammates. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/donovan-mitchell-slam-235\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/donovan-mitchell-slam-235\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SLAM 235<\/a> cover <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SLAMonline\/status\/1466453659219333123?s=20&amp;t=rumnMQZIHELLtkQR4ZhdfQ\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SLAMonline\/status\/1466453659219333123?s=20&amp;t=rumnMQZIHELLtkQR4ZhdfQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">star<\/a> gave the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/kyle-lowry-reflects-on-time-with-the-toronto-raptors\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"731951\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto Raptors<\/a> sell-out crowd a drool-worthy show of his athleticism and dynamic offensive bag. The three-time All-Star recorded 31 points and nine assists in 35 minutes, tying the record for most points scored by a debuting Cavaliers player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Already in the record books.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/spidadmitchell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@spidadmitchell<\/a> put up 31 points last night \u2014 tied for the most ever by a player in his Wine &amp; Gold debut. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LetEmKnow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LetEmKnow<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9DOZHWYZw1\">pic.twitter.com\/9DOZHWYZw1<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cavs\/status\/1583103593175212032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/danny-ainge-utah-jazz-didnt-really-believe-in-each-other\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/danny-ainge-utah-jazz-didnt-really-believe-in-each-other\/\" target=\"_blank\">The rebuilding Jazz<\/a> decided <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/report-cavaliers-acquire-donovan-mitchell-in-a-blockbuster-trade\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/report-cavaliers-acquire-donovan-mitchell-in-a-blockbuster-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\">to move Mitchell to the Cavs<\/a> over the summer, but it seems like Spida may have found an ideal fit in Cleveland. Mitchell has been labeled an All-Star piece that can help push Cleveland over the top as a playoff contender. The Lousiville product grew into that while in Utah; as a Cav, Mitchell has a better idea of how to mesh well with his new teammates and seems to be at ease.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s comfortable,&#8221; Cavaliers coach <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/nba\/cavs-agree-to-multiyear-deal-with-jb-bickerstaff\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"562976\" target=\"_blank\">J.B. Bickerstaff<\/a> said per <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/34835980\/comfortable-donovan-mitchell-scores-31-regular-season-debut-cavaliers\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/34835980\/comfortable-donovan-mitchell-scores-31-regular-season-debut-cavaliers\" target=\"_blank\">ESPN<\/a>. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s that easy. This isn&#8217;t something he hasn&#8217;t done before. He&#8217;s carried teams on his back, so he understands the moment, and he&#8217;s capable of it. It&#8217;s not new, and it&#8217;s what we expected from him.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mitchell allowed the game to come to him on Wednesday, starting slowly with just four points in the first quarter. However, when his <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/darius-garland-slam-all-star-vol-2\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/darius-garland-slam-all-star-vol-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">All-Star<\/a> teammate <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Darius+Garland\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Darius+Garland\" target=\"_blank\">Darius Garland<\/a> exited the game with a left eye laceration, Mitchell ramped it up and carried a more significant offense load on his shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the big thing playing with a bunch of good guys, trying to find your spots, especially against a team like Toronto,&#8221; Mitchell said. &#8220;You don&#8217;t want to come in full bore; that&#8217;s how they want to turn you over. And then [Garland] goes down, so I&#8217;m on the ball more, directing traffic.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s an elite basketball player. There&#8217;s not many guys in this league that are better than Donovan or are capable of doing the things he can do. He puts so much pressure on the defense,&#8221; Coach Bickerstaff added. &#8220;He has the ability to make all the passes, so again that&#8217;s, he&#8217;s hard to deal with, but he makes defenses have to make tough decisions over and over again.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite a few miscommunications with <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/jarrett-allen-all-star-vol-2\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/jarrett-allen-all-star-vol-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">his new teammate and fellow<\/a> All-Star <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Jarrett+Allen\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?s=Jarrett+Allen\" target=\"_blank\">Jarrett Allen<\/a>, Spida had a strong debut. Natural growing pains will come with learning each other&#8217;s games, and the vibes remain positive after they opened the season with a 108-105 loss to the Raptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s part of the game, part of the growing as teammates. It&#8217;s our first game playing together, our first official game playing together. We still have a lot of things to iron out, a lot of things to communicate about off the court after it happens,&#8221; said Jarrett Allen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the Cavs, Mitchell&#8217;s record night signals a high ceiling for the marriage between the All-Star and the rest of the team. As the guard put it, the Cavs &#8220;did a good job. But [they] can do an even better job.&#8221; Cleveland looks onwards and upwards as they seek to grab their first win of the season against the Chicago Bulls this Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his first game with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it appears Donovan Mitchell has embraced his new home and teammates. The SLAM 235 cover star gave the Toronto Raptors sell-out crowd a drool-worthy show of his athleticism and dynamic offensive bag. The three-time All-Star recorded 31 points and nine assists in 35 minutes, tying the record [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":763305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62698,18,63826,62493,62720],"tags":[13006,36492,9617,64710,13185,14147,64655,95],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-763298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cleveland-cavaliers","category-nba","category-news","category-newswire","category-toronto-raptors","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-darius-garland","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-franchise-record","tag-j-b-bickerstaff","tag-jarrett-allen","tag-record","tag-toronto-raptors"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763298"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":763324,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763298\/revisions\/763324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763298"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=763298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}