Breaking Down Donovan Mitchell's Historic 71-Point Performance
There are a ton of players in the NBA who will be happy with scoring 20 points in a game. For others who are the leaders of their team and constantly in the MVP conversation, it is more normal to see them eclipse 30 or sometimes even 40 points in a game.
What Donovan Mitchell did on Monday night though was something we have not seen since 2017.
The Cleveland Cavaliers ended up defeating the Chicago Bulls 145-134 in overtime and 71 of their 145 total points came from Donovan Mitchell.
In the greatest performance we have seen this season, Mitchell recorded 71 total points, making him just the 7th different player in NBA history to record 70 or more points in a single game, joining Wilt Chamberlain, who did so six different times, Elgin Baylor, David Thompson, David Robinson, Kobe Bryant and Devin Booker.
What is even more impressive about this performance from Mitchell is that he also had 8 rebounds and 11 assists, coming so close to the first-ever 70-point triple-double in league history.
Scoring or assisting on 99 points in this game, Donovan Mitchell’s performance ranks as the second-most point total from scoring/assists in league history and is the most since Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, per ESPN.
Mitchell’s 71 points were the most points scored by a player since Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in 2006.
“It's humbling,” Mitchell said after the game. "I'm speechless. For me, not only did I do that, but I did it an effort when we came back and won and it's how we won. It's nuts.”
Following this monster game, Donovan Mitchell now ranks tied for third in the NBA in made threes, fifth in total points scored, fifth in value above replacement player, seventh in points per game and seventh in field goal percentage (min. 600 attempts).
He also ranks tenth in player impact rating (min. 30 games), tied for seventh in 20-point games, tied for sixth in 30-point games and tied for sixth in 40-point games this NBA season.
Five-time All-Star and Mitchell’s teammate Kevin Love also talked about this historic performance after the game, stating, “In my 15 years, that’s the best performance I’ve ever seen.”
This masterpiece of a game put together by Donovan Mitchell is not only a sign that the Cleveland Cavaliers are a real contender in the Eastern Conference, but that Mitchell is a true MVP candidate.
There has been a lot of talk surrounding Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant for MVP this season and rightfully so, but Mitchell absolutely deserves to be in this conversation as well.
His numbers are right at the top of the league with some of these other names, this performance was the best by a player to this point in the season and Cleveland is only 2.5 games back of first-place in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavaliers gave up a ton of future assets to be able to get Donovan Mitchell this offseason and their investment has paid off big time so far.
This team has a ton of potential moving forward and with Mitchell at the helm, there is no telling as to what they can achieve.
Be sure to catch up on the newest episode of The Fast Break Podcast hosted by Fastbreak's own Brett Siegel!
Streaming on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, The Fast Break Podcast takes you inside the league with the latest news, intel, rumors and interviews from those close to the action for all 30 teams. Be on the lookout for a new episodes every Friday.
