Donovan Mitchell joins LeBron James in Cavaliers history after another masterful playoff performance

The Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t going to be eliminated on Friday night, regardless of the result of Game 3 of their second-round series with the Indiana Pacers, but it was “one-thousand percent” a must-win game in the eyes of star guard Donovan Mitchell. 

Mitchell delivered a performance worthy of the stakes, pouring in 43 points and adding nine rebounds and five assists to carry the Cavaliers to a comfortable 126-104 win. The series is now 2-1 in favor of the Pacers, which is a much more manageable deficit than 3-0 for the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 overall seed, who dropped the first two games at home in stunning fashion. 

“For me and my mental, I didn’t necessarily say [it was a must-win game] to everybody. I kind of kept that to myself,” Mitchell said. “Because understanding if you go down 3-0, it’s tough. So yeah, this was a must-win. We let one slip at home, let the fans down at home, so we gotta find a way to bounce back and we did. Ultimately, all we did is win one game, we gotta do it again on Sunday.” 

Mitchell, who had 48 points in the Cavaliers’ Game 2 collapse, joined LeBron James on Friday as the only players in Cavaliers history to record back-to-back 40-point games in the playoffs. He also joined Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant and Michael Jordan as the only players in the last 50 years with at least 90 points and 25 made free throws in a two-game span in the playoffs. 

It took a few minutes for Mitchell to finally get on the board, which he did on a 3-pointer in the middle of the first quarter, and it wasn’t until the second that he really got rolling. He scored 11 points in the frame, nearly matching the Pacers’ total as a team (13), and helped the Cavaliers build a 21-point lead heading into the break. 

In the second half, Mitchell repelled run after run from the Pacers, who tried valiantly to get back into the game but were unable to pull off another spectacular comeback. Notably, after the Pacers had cut the deficit to 11 early in the fourth quarter, Mitchell responded by either scoring or assisting on 16 consecutive Cavaliers points to push the lead to 24 and essentially end the game. 

The Cavs are now firmly back in the series, but know they still have a lot of work to do. A loss in Sunday’s Game 4 and they’re back in a serious hole. 

“It’s 2-1, but we haven’t done anything,” Mitchell said. “We’ve won one game. We gotta do it again. That’s been my message. We’re not celebrating, we’re not smiling. We came here to take two games, and we did one. The next one’s gonna be the hardest game of the series.”