The Intentional Miss: How'd He Do it?
It's a play that Donovan Mitchell has practiced countless times in the past.
"It was probably like once every month or so. We would just make sure we had something in place and it started with having two bigs," Mitchell said. "When we first did it was Derrick Favors and Rudy (Gobert) down there. Put the two big guys down there, miss it, tip it out and, you know, try and make a play."
What a play it was.
With 4.7 seconds to play in regulation and the Cleveland Cavaliers trailing the Chicago Bulls by two-points, Mitchell stepped to the free-throw line for the second of two shots.
"I could just get it on the rim with some loft and take off, use my athleticism to get there, you know, make the play," Mitchell said.
What followed was an epic game-saving play in, where Mitchell intentionally missed the free throw, caught his own rebound, and scored as time expired to send the game to overtime.
"That's the first time it work that I got that I got the ball," Mitchell said immediately following the game. "I think I've done it. We've hit it out and we've missed."
Mitchell credits his former coach in Utah, Quin Snyder, for drilling it into his brain. After he connected on the first shot, his current coach J.B. Bickerstaff made sure the right pieces were in place for the grand finale.
"I've done that. In Utah we went over that and we went over how to miss. That's how detailed Quin Snyder is," Mitchell said. "Just understanding if I put it on the certain side, you know, ROLO (Robin Lopez) was going to crash, it was JA (Jarrett Allen, on the other side). They don't have to bigs to kind of go in there and compete with those two."
While Snyder made it a regularity in practice, it hasn't been so common at Cleveland Clinic Courts this season. Mitchell said the team worked on an intentional miss situation prior to the season-opener in Toronto but hadn't given it much thought since.
"We practiced it once. But again, it was (Mitchell's) understanding of what was needed to be done. Obviously, he makes the first one which is most important, and then we were able to make our subs to get some of the bigger guys into kind of block out and find a hole," said Bickerstaff. "The basketball gods love these moments. When you do the things you're supposed to do they give you favor, and I think tonight was an example of that."
Mitchell's theatrics helped author the most prolific scoring night in Cavalier history and helped erase a 21-point deficit. His 71-point outburst set a franchise record and was the highest scoring total in the NBA this season in the Cavs 145-134 win over the Bulls.
That moment, the missed free-throw, was when he sensed something special was about to happen.
"Once I made the free throw, that's when I was like, 'okay, like, you know, God's got something for me, right?'" Mitchell said. "It happened to go my way and I made the leap. But once I made that, that's when I sat in the huddle and J.B. and I started laughing that we might as well win the game, you know, at this point."
Mitchell was keenly aware of where everyone was on the floor. Jarrett Allen and Robin Lopez down low. Kevin Love floating outside had he missed the first shot, he had a game play for how to quickly get the ball to another shooter to keep the Cavs' hopes alive.
"If I had missed the first half, I missed the first one, I probably would have caught it and tried to find the corners," Mitchell said.
It's just the latest example of the MVP caliber type of play that Mitchell has provided for the Wine and Gold since he was acquired in a blockbuster trade over the summer.
Monday night he became the fifth player in Cavaliers' history to score 50-points or more joining LeBron James (nine times) Kyrie Irving (two times), Walt Wesley and Darius Garland.
Garland accomplished the feat earlier this season with 51-points in a loss to the Timberwolves in November.
Mitchell's teammates were left equally in awe as the 19,432 that were at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Monday night.
"In my 15 years, that's the best performance I've ever seen, ever been a part of," said Kevin Love. "I've seen some special ones, I was talking about Kyrie here against Portland when he had 55, LeBron in game one of the 2018 Finals, 57 for Kyrie in San Antonio. But this one takes the cake."
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