<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-darius-garland-cleveland-crippling-characteristic');   ga('set', 'title', 'Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland call attention to Cavs’ crippling characteristic');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Golden-State-Warriors-at-Cleveland-Cavaliers.jpg"><figcaption>Ken Blaze-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland call attention to Cavs’ crippling characteristic</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-12-07T07:06:28-08:00">December 7th, 7:06am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-12-07T07:06:28-08:00">December 7th, 7:06am</time><address><a href="https://spindavies.myportfolio.com/home">Spencer Davies</a>Spencer Davies has covered the NBA and the Cleveland Cavaliers as a credentialed reporter for over a decade. His work has appeared on Basketball News, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, USA Today, FOX Sports, HoopsHype, CloseUp360, FanSided, and Basketball Insiders, among others. In addition to his journalistic experience, he has been a senior editor, a digital production assistant, a social media manager, a sports radio anchor, and a producer.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cleveland Cavaliers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-aside-mental-test-cleveland-must-meet-demanding-challenge">Cleveland Cavaliers continue to take one step forward and two steps back</a>. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland wasted little time pinpointing the most maddening characteristic of the Cavs after their disheartening 99-94 loss to a Golden State Warriors team that was down nine players.</p><p>“We get down, and then we start playing,” Mitchell said in the locker room postgame. “There’s no switch to flip. Until there’s a change in that, we’re going to keep being in these positions where sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, and we have to fix it. Until we decide on a consistent basis to be that group, we’re going to run into inconsistency… yeah.”</p><p>“Gotta play hard for 48 minutes,” Garland added. “Play with some intensity. Play with some energy.”</p><p>While Mitchell credited the short-handed Warriors — particularly <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/warriors-news-steve-kerr-dub-pat-spencer-that-motherfer-upset-over-cavs">Pat Spencer and Quinten Post</a> — for coming to play down bodies, he knows the wine and gold have to be better.</p><p>“We’re gonna figure it out one day,” Mitchell said, exasperated. “Can’t keep getting in this position. Shouldn’t come down to it. All the things we’ve done and shown, we do it in spurts, and that’s what’s rough. We just have to figure out how to go out there on a consistent basis.”</p><p>Mitchell pointed out<a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KwKB9UMzW1c" rel="noopener"> how the Cavs closed the half and started the third quarter</a>, which gave Golden State confidence. That’s not the first time that’s happened.</p><p>Remember, too, that this is a Cleveland bunch that just scored 130 points in a win over the San Antonio Spurs the night before, only to put up 94 points on a putrid 37-of-107 shooting performance from the field the next contest. Outside of Mitchell, the wine and gold went 3 of 28 from long distance.</p><p>“I mean, it’s deflating when you’re missing shots. Like, it’s deflating,” Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I don’t know who would be joyful in that situation. It’s just tough. I think we kept it together on the bench and [were] encouraging and [saying] keep competing. We had [24] offensive rebounds. I know a lot of that is ’cause we missed a lot of shots, but I thought, ‘We’re trying, we’re fighting.’ It’s like, we could not get over the hump.</p><p>The most perplexing aspect of this particular game was how the Cavs outrebounded Golden State by 15 and also got as many shots in the paint as they did Friday. The problem is that they made 28% below their expected field goal percentage on those easy looks.</p><p>“I’m not going to fault our effort or our spirit or any of that,” Atkinson said. “Name of the game is putting the ball in the basket at the end of the day… Got to put it in the hole.”</p><p>Even with a better offensive process and despite holding Golden State under 100 points on 38.4% shooting, the consensus takeaway was that the defense still needed improvement.</p><p>“It’s coming together, but it’s the opposite side of the ball for us,” Garland said. “Gotta bring some energy on that side of the ball. I guess it’s difficult for us. Gotta talk a little bit more, bring some energy on the defensive side of the ball.”</p><p>Mitchell believes that it starts with better communication, intensity, getting on the glass, and running the fastbreak. Garland feels like it’s as simple as energy, spirit, and “a will.”</p><p>“When you’re not making shots like that, you’ve gotta get more stops,” Atkinson said. ” It was okay-to-good, but it wasn’t great. We had a fair amount of breakdowns. We’re going for shot fakes at the rim. They weren’t effort things. They were more like focus, cognitive-like mishaps. So, we had to be more perfect on defense than we were.”</p><p>After splitting their weekend back-to-back, the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-cleveland-regular-season-big-picture-focus">Cavs will have until Friday to regroup</a> before their matchup with the Washington Wizards in D.C. Sporting a middling 14-11 record, that may be what the doctor ordered.</p><p>“It’s a reset, obviously,” Mitchell said. “When we come back, we’ve gotta be rocking and ready to go.”</p><p>“It’s fixable,” Garland added. “Get some rest. Get in the gym. Create some energy for next game.”</p><p>Atkinson senses that Cleveland needs this kind of break to exhale and get some practice time.</p><p>“Schedule is gonna ease up, and we’ll get back on track,” Atkinson said. “But this is a good reset. It gives us time to get some guys healthy, right? Anytime you can buy days in the NBA, guys can heal up a little bit.”</p><p>“Use these four days and get better,” Mitchell added. “That’s it.”</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland call attention to Cavs’ crippling characteristic

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-gets-brutally-honest-ugly-loss-blazers-cleveland-scuffles');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell gets brutally honest on ugly loss to Blazers as Cleveland scuffles');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Mitchell.jpg"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell gets brutally honest on ugly loss to Blazers as Cleveland scuffles</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-12-04T08:43:15-08:00">December 4th, 8:43am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-12-04T08:43:15-08:00">December 4th, 8:43am</time><address><a>Rohan Brahmbhatt</a>Rohan Brahmbhatt is an adventure-driven sports writer, passionate footballer, mountaineer, and photojournalist. Rohan blends firsthand experience with storytelling—capturing the intensity of sport and the thrill of exploration. Whether on the field, a mountain trail, or behind the lens, he brings authentic, high-energy narratives that connect readers to the heart of the action.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cleveland Cavaliers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Cleveland Cavaliers pride themselves on toughness, defensive identity, and continuity. But after Wednesday night’s 122-110 loss to the struggling Portland Trail Blazers, the tone shifted,<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-kenny-atkinson-texted-donovan-mitchell-43-points-pacers"> and Donovan Mitchell didn’t sugarcoat it.</a></p><p>Mitchell, who finished with 33 points in the defeat, delivered a message that was equal parts blunt and measured, a reflection of growing frustration amid a critical stretch of inconsistency.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-thomas-bryant-tenacious-consolation-prize-cleveland-loss-blazers">The Cavs, now 13-10, have dropped four of their last five,</a> and Wednesday marked their first loss this season to a team with a losing record.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">“Take this on the chin.” </p><p>Donovan Mitchell’s assessment of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a> right now is telling. Frustration coupled with being grounded, disappointment coupled with understanding the reality of where things currently stand and will go. Balanced as always. <a href="https://t.co/bmU7LEm8AV">pic.twitter.com/bmU7LEm8AV</a></p><p>— Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1996486910332772774?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“Take this on the chin,” Mitchell said postgame. “The league changes every year, teams get better, trends shift, and nothing is guaranteed. We’ve got to adjust. It’s still early, but we need to come back with urgency.”</p><p>That urgency was visibly lacking for long stretches against Portland.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-joins-stephen-curry-in-historic-nba-club-in-win-vs-pacers">Despite Mitchell and Evan Mobley combining for 56 points,</a> Mobley contributing 23 points and 10 rebounds, the Cavs struggled with defensive breakdowns and inconsistent intensity.</p><p>Portland shot 34-of-39 from the free-throw line, with Deni Avdija torching Cleveland for <a href="https://www.espn.in/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810179" rel="noopener">27 points,</a> and reserves Caleb Love and Shaedon Sharpe adding 20 each.</p><p>For a team that ranked near the top of the league defensively a year ago, the performance was especially puzzling.</p><p>“We weren’t disciplined, and we let them dictate,” Mitchell added. “That can’t happen, not at home, not against teams we should beat.”</p><p>Cleveland entered the season with elevated expectations after last year’s playoff breakthrough. But with injuries early in the schedule and fluctuating defensive effort, consistency has been elusive.</p><p>Mitchell, however, made it clear panic isn’t part of the equation; accountability is.</p><p>“We’ll respond. We have to,” he said. “This is part of it, growth, adversity, figuring out who we are. But tonight? We take it on the chin, and we learn from it.”</p><p>For now, the Cavaliers remain a work in progress, talented, competitive, but searching for rhythm.</p><p>And as Mitchell emphasized Wednesday night, the next stretch will reveal whether this group can evolve or stall.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell gets brutally honest on ugly loss to Blazers as Cleveland scuffles

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/news/cavs-news-how-donovan-mitchell-kenny-atkinsons-unprecedented-demand-pacers-game');   ga('set', 'title', 'How Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell fulfilled Kenny Atkinson’s unprecedented demand in Pacers game');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.cavsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Donovan-Mitchell.jpg"><figcaption>Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>How Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell fulfilled Kenny Atkinson’s unprecedented demand in Pacers game</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-12-02T09:29:20-08:00">December 2nd, 9:29am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-12-02T09:29:20-08:00">December 2nd, 9:29am</time><address><a>Jackson Stone</a>Jackson Stone is a Mercer University senior from Atlanta on track to graduate with a BA in communications. A lifelong sports lover, Jackson joined ClutchPoints and Cavs Nation in 2023.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cavs News</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>On Monday evening, the Cleveland Cavaliers picked up a much-needed road win <a href="https://cavsnation.com/news/cavs-news-shocking-loss-pacers-highlighted-insane-stat">over the Indiana Pacers</a> to end their losing streak and get back in the win column. The Cavs were led by 43 points <a href="https://cavsnation.com/news/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-sits-in-stunned-silence-heartbreaking-loss-to-celtics">from Donovan Mitchell</a> in this game, continuing his torrid pace on the 2025-26 season and helping Cleveland knock off the team that eliminated them in last year’s semifinal series.</p><p>After the game, it was revealed that his big scoring night <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-kenny-atkinson-texted-donovan-mitchell-43-points-pacers" rel="noopener">was prophesied by</a> none other than Cavs head coach Ken Atkinson.</p><p>“You’ve got to go for 40 tonight,’” Atkinson said, speaking on what he told Mitchell before the game, per Spencer Davies of ClutchPoints. “I’ve never said that to a player. ‘If you take 30 shots, I’m good with it. And if you take five or six bad ones, we’re good with it.’ I’ve never said that to him or any player, but he felt it, I felt it; we needed him tonight. Just had to get a W.”</p><p>“We’re asking a lot of him. Without him, how many wins do we have?” Atkinson added. “We have to ask ourselves that question. Everybody talks about the great players in this league; this guy is one of ’em. Top five, you could say whatever you want.”</p><p>While most pundits and fans would not have Mitchell in their top five, he’s still been hooping at an elite level for the Cavs all year, keeping the team above water even while Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley continue to perform well below expectations, and as Darius Garland goes in and out of the lineup due to injury.</p><p>In any case, next up for the Cavs is a home game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday evening. That contest is slated to begin at 7:00 pm ET.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

How Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell fulfilled Kenny Atkinson’s unprecedented demand in Pacers game

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-kenny-atkinson-texted-donovan-mitchell-43-points-pacers');   ga('set', 'title', 'What Kenny Atkinson texted Donovan Mitchell before Cavs’ skid-snapping win over Pacers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Why-Donovan-Mitchell-Kenny-Atkinson-wont-tolerate-one-major-Cavs-problem-It-cant-happen.jpg"><figcaption>Matt Krohn-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>What Kenny Atkinson texted Donovan Mitchell before Cavs’ skid-snapping win over Pacers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-12-01T20:46:03-08:00">December 1st, 8:46pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-12-01T20:46:03-08:00">December 1st, 8:46pm</time><address><a href="https://spindavies.myportfolio.com/home">Spencer Davies</a>Spencer Davies has covered the NBA and the Cleveland Cavaliers as a credentialed reporter for over a decade. His work has appeared on Basketball News, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, USA Today, FOX Sports, HoopsHype, CloseUp360, FanSided, and Basketball Insiders, among others. In addition to his journalistic experience, he has been a senior editor, a digital production assistant, a social media manager, a sports radio anchor, and a producer.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cleveland Cavaliers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Amid a three-game losing streak and going into a second night of a back-to-back on the road, the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-cleveland-regular-season-big-picture-focus">Cleveland Cavaliers had to come out with a victory over the Indiana Pacers</a>. So, before the matchup, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson sent a text to Donovan Mitchell with a message that would foreshadow his night.</p><p>“‘You’ve got to go for 40 tonight,'” Atkinson said, noting that Mitchell likely didn’t need his motivation but wanted to double down on his belief. “I’ve never said that to a player. ‘If you take 30 shots, I’m good with it. And if you take five or six bad ones, we’re good with it.’ I’ve never said that to him or any player, but he felt it, I felt it; we needed him tonight. Just had to get a W.”</p><p>Mitchell finished the game with 43 points, nine rebounds, and six assists on 16 of 27 from the field, knocking down four shots from deep to <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-joins-stephen-curry-in-historic-nba-club-in-win-vs-pacers">take the league lead in total threes made with 81</a>. It was his third 40-point performance of the season and his second in the last three contests, helping lead the Cavs to a 135-119 win. Atkinson is not okay with Cleveland being so overreliant on “Superman,” as he referred to the All-Star shooting guard, but right now, “It is what it is.”</p><p>“We’re asking a lot of him. Without him, how many wins do we have?” Atkinson asked. “We have to ask ourselves that question. Everybody talks about the great players in this league; this guy is one of ’em. Top five, you could say whatever you want.”</p><p>During his typically happy-go-lucky postgame interview with Serena Winters, Mitchell was stoic and matter-of-fact, not only satisfied with a double-digit win over a team the Cavs were <a href="https://www.nba.com/game/0022500310" rel="noopener">expected to handle easily</a>. The story his eyes told after Sunday’s loss in Boston followed him Monday into Gainbridge Fieldhouse.</p><p>“Rarely is Don not jovial,” Atkinson said. “I looked at him pregame, and you knew. Almost more business-like than ever. I kind of knew we weren’t gonna lose this game. He wasn’t gonna let us lose it and did it on both ends.”</p><p>It sounds like Mitchell is done playing games. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-jaylon-tyson-cleveland-cruise-control-approach">Jaylon Tyson is right there with him</a>, too.</p><p>The Cavs are ticked off, and if that mentality can trickle down from their leader and throughout the locker room, that level of focus could be the key to getting back on track.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

What Kenny Atkinson texted Donovan Mitchell before Cavs’ skid-snapping win over Pacers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-joins-stephen-curry-in-historic-nba-club-in-win-vs-pacers');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell joins Stephen Curry in historic NBA club in win vs. Pacers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Cavs-guard-Donovan-Mitchell-45-holds-the-ball.jpg"><figcaption>© Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell joins Stephen Curry in historic NBA club in win vs. Pacers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-12-01T19:13:47-08:00">December 1st, 7:13pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-12-01T19:13:47-08:00">December 1st, 7:13pm</time><address><a href="https://letterboxd.com/splooshpuhrty/films/by/your-rating/">Jedd Pagaduan</a>Jedd Pagaduan is a certified Clippers and Gunners fan, which means he's a very sports-traumatized individual. He now writes about sports instead as a form of therapy.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cleveland Cavaliers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>With the Cleveland Cavaliers being on the second night of a back-to-back on Monday, they decided to <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-darius-garland-jaylon-tyson-returning-injury">give Darius Garland the night off</a> so he wouldn’t re-aggravate his toe injury troubles. This freed up Donovan Mitchell to do the bulk of the heavy lifting against a flatlining Indiana Pacers team.</p><p>Mitchell, who didn’t have the best of games on Sunday in a 117-115 loss to the Boston Celtics, bounced back in a huge way — finishing with 43 points, nine rebounds, and six assists in a convincing 135-119 win over their division rival.</p><p>At 29 years of age, Mitchell remains in the middle of his prime and is reaching heights that not too many players before him have done. In fact, the Cavs star, in his first 20 games of the season, only belongs with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in an exclusive club.</p><p>According to ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel, Mitchell is <a href="https://x.com/BrettSiegelNBA/status/1995689176558387577" rel="noopener">only the second</a> player in NBA history to average at least 30 points per game on over 50 percent shooting from the field while drilling 80 or more three-pointers over his first 20 games of the season, joining Curry.</p><p>Amid the Cavs’ injury troubles, the team has needed Mitchell to play at an unbelievable level. And to his credit, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-money-spot-career-nba-mvp">he has answered the call</a>. Cleveland may not be as good this year as they were in last year’s regular season, but make no mistake about it — they might be just as dangerous of a team, especially when Mitchell is playing like this.</p><h2><b>Cavs’ unsung heroes are stepping up</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/27449063.jpg"><figcaption>David Butler II-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Mitchell might be in impressive company rubbing elbows with Curry in terms of scoring efficiency and three-point volume, but without the emergence of a few unsung heroes, the Cavs would have found it more difficult to overcome the depleted Pacers.</p><p>In particular, Jaylon Tyson, the 20th overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, appears to be a huge draft-night win for Cleveland.</p><p>Tyson recorded 27 points and 11 rebounds on a pristine 10-13 shooting night, as he has filled in admirably for Jarrett Allen, who’s currently on the mend with a finger injury.</p><p>Nae’Qwan Tomlin also continues to be a revelation, as he is a hustle guy who gets the job done for the Cavs, while Tyrese Proctor has also given his team some quality minutes off the bench.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell joins Stephen Curry in historic NBA club in win vs. Pacers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/news/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-sits-in-stunned-silence-heartbreaking-loss-to-celtics');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell sits in stunned silence after heartbreaking loss to Celtics');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.cavsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Cavs-All-Star-Donovan-Mitchell.jpg"><figcaption>Ken Blaze-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell sits in stunned silence after heartbreaking loss to Celtics</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-12-01T10:00:25-08:00">December 1st, 10:00am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-12-01T10:00:25-08:00">December 1st, 10:00am</time><address><a>Jackson Stone</a>Jackson Stone is a Mercer University senior from Atlanta on track to graduate with a BA in communications. A lifelong sports lover, Jackson joined ClutchPoints and Cavs Nation in 2023.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cavs News</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>On Sunday evening, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ losing ways continued with a frustrating home<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/boston-celtics/celtics-news-payton-pritchard-hits-rare-celtics-milestone-seen-just-4-other-times"> loss to the Boston Celtics.</a> The<a href="https://cavsnation.com/news/cavs-news-jarrett-allen-larry-nance-jr-sam-merrill-injury-updates-are-bummer"> Cavs were playing</a> a Celtics team on the second night of a back to back, without Derrick White, but still lost largely due to a breakout 42-point performance from Payton Pritchard.</p><p>After the game, the mood <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2025/12/donovan-mitchell-stayed-silent-after-cavs-last-second-loss-and-that-speaks-volumes.html" rel="noopener">was understandably down</a> in the Cavs’ locker room, as portrayed by Ethan Sands of Cleveland.com.</p><p>“(Donovan Mitchell) sat at his locker and stared into a kind of emotional quiet that felt larger than the room itself. His teammates spoke a few steps away, voices rising and falling as they replayed the final seconds of a game that slipped through Cleveland’s hands again,” reported Sands.</p><p>Overall, the Cavs have been a major disappointment so far this season, currently sitting at 12-9 after last year’s historic season. Cleveland entered this year with sky-high expectations, hoping to stay healthy in the wake of last year’s playoff collapse at the hands of the eventual Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers in the second round.</p><p>However, things have not gone according to plan so far this season, as Darius Garland has been in and out of the lineup due to injury, Evan Mobley has not taken the offensive leap that fans have been clamoring for for several years now, and Jarrett Allen is not doing much of anything on either end of the floor at the current juncture.</p><p>If things continue down this path, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Cavs’ front office start to consider some trades in order to give the team a kickstart.</p><p>In any case, the Cavs will next take the floor on Monday evening for a road game against the Indiana Pacers. That contest will tip off at 7:00 pm ET.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell sits in stunned silence after heartbreaking loss to Celtics

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/news/cavs-news-kenny-atkinson-final-play-donovan-mitchell-shot-loss');   ga('set', 'title', 'Why Cavs’ Kenny Atkinson didn’t draw up final play for a Donovan Mitchell shot in loss to Celtics');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.cavsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Cavs-All-Star-Donovan-Mitchell-Cavs-head-coach-Kenny-Atkinson-1.jpg"><figcaption>David Richard-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Why Cavs’ Kenny Atkinson didn’t draw up final play for a Donovan Mitchell shot in loss to Celtics</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-12-01T09:57:26-08:00">December 1st, 9:57am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-12-01T09:57:26-08:00">December 1st, 9:57am</time><address><a>Malik Brown</a>Malik Brown is a multimedia reporter based in Atlanta who covers the Hawks and Dream for ClutchPoints. Malik is also an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints and Cavs Nation.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cavs News</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>When the Cleveland Cavaliers usually find themselves in trouble, the one person they know <a href="https://cavsnation.com/news/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-sacrifice-challenge-kenny-atkinson">they can count on is Donovan Mitchell</a>. He’s been hitting big shots throughout his entire career, and nothing recent has shown that he should stop anytime soon. So when the Cavs were down to the Boston Celtics with seconds remaining, it only made sense for him to get the ball.</p><p>Mitchell did get the ball, but he was the one inbounding instead of taking the final shot. The Cavs ended up losing, and after the game, head coach Kenny Atkinson had to answer for why he <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2025/12/donovan-mitchell-stayed-silent-after-cavs-last-second-loss-and-that-speaks-volumes.html" rel="noopener">didn’t draw up a play</a> for his best player.</p><p>“We were trying to take it out with our best passer in that situation,” Atkinson said via Ethan Sands of cleveland.com.</p><p>The play was supposed to be set up for Darius Garland to come off a down screen for a shot. If that didn’t work, the next option was going to be for Evan Mobley to get a shot. Neither one of those plans worked because the Celtics went into a zone, so Mitchell gave it up to Mobley, and he didn’t have enough time to get a shot up.</p><p>That led to the Cavs’ third straight loss, and now they are seventh in the Eastern Conference. After a historic start to last season, things have not gone their way as much to start this season, but it’s still very early to even bother panicking.</p><p>The <a href="https://cavsnation.com/news/cavs-news-jarrett-allen-larry-nance-jr-sam-merrill-injury-updates-are-bummer">Cavs are missing players due to injuries</a>, but they should still be able to win some of the games that they’ve played. When it gets to crunch time, everyone knows that Mitchell is the player who needs the ball in his hands to take the shot.</p><p>At the same time, the fact that teams know that may mean all the attention is on him, which makes getting plays for other players easy. That may have been what Atkinson was thinking in the moment, but it didn’t work out.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Why Cavs’ Kenny Atkinson didn’t draw up final play for a Donovan Mitchell shot in loss to Celtics

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-returns-brief-exit-vs-hawks');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell returns after brief exit vs. Hawks');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Donovan-Mitchell-returns-after-brief-exit-vs-Hawks.jpg"><figcaption>Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell returns after brief exit vs. Hawks</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-11-28T18:59:18-08:00">November 28th, 6:59pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-11-28T18:59:18-08:00">November 28th, 6:59pm</time><address><a>Allan Binoy</a>Allan Binoy is a sports journalist who covers the NFL, NCAA Football, and NBA for ClutchPoints. With a deep passion for storytelling and analysis, he brings fans closer to the action by breaking down the biggest moments and storylines across the world of sports.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Atlanta Hawks</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Donovan Mitchell gave Cleveland <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-jarrett-allen-playing-tonight-hawks-injury-report">Cavaliers fans a brief scare Friday night</a>, but the star guard looked just fine once he stepped back on the floor.</p><p>Midway through the third quarter <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/betting/cavs-vs-raptors-prediction-odds-pick-11-24-2025">against the Atlanta Hawks</a>, Donovan Mitchell headed to the back with a Cleveland staffer after checking out, as Hawks beat reporter Lauren L. Williams noted on X. She later added that Mitchell had <a href="https://x.com/WilliamsLaurenL/status/1994590736679911713?s=20" rel="noopener">checked back</a> into the game, a quick update that settled plenty of nervous timelines in Cleveland.</p><p>Before and after the trip to the tunnel, Mitchell played like someone who did not plan on resting long. By late in the fourth quarter, he had 37 points on 13-of-23 shooting, including three 6-pointers and a perfect 5-of-5 at the line, along with four rebounds and three assists. Cleveland still trailed at that point, hanging around despite Atlanta’s efficiency.</p><p>Evan Mobley added 20 points and 13 rebounds while stretching the floor from the perimeter, and Lonzo Ball chipped in three points and four rebounds as he continues to find his rhythm in his first season with the Cavaliers. Cleveland shot 45% from the field and 42% from deep through three quarters via the ESPN Box Score, but giveaways and defensive breakdowns kept the Hawks in control.</p><p>Atlanta leaned on Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who piled up 25 points on 8-of-19 shooting with four 3-pointers, while Jalen Johnson put together a strong all-around line with 28 points, nine rebounds, and 10 assists. Dyson Daniels also helped steer the offense with 10 points and nine assists.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-evan-mobley-injury-report-heat">Donovan Mitchell has already missed time</a> this season with leg and hamstring issues, including a recent absence that drew extra scrutiny around his workload. Any walk to the tunnel is going to make fans nervous. This time, he came right back, laced them up again, and kept firing, exactly what the Cavaliers wanted to see.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell returns after brief exit vs. Hawks

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/toronto-raptors/raptors-news-toronto-ties-milestone-after-dominating-donovan-mitchell-cavs');   ga('set', 'title', 'Raptors tie milestone after dominating Donovan Mitchell, Cavs');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Raptors-Immanuel-Quickley-and-Brandon-Ingram-defend-Cavs-Evan-Mobley.jpg"><figcaption>© John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Raptors tie milestone after dominating Donovan Mitchell, Cavs</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-11-24T21:04:01-08:00">November 24th, 9:04pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-11-24T21:04:01-08:00">November 24th, 9:04pm</time><address><a href="https://letterboxd.com/splooshpuhrty/films/by/your-rating/">Jedd Pagaduan</a>Jedd Pagaduan is a certified Clippers and Gunners fan, which means he's a very sports-traumatized individual. He now writes about sports instead as a form of therapy.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>After two seasons of rather poor play, there weren’t many high expectations, if any at all, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/toronto-raptors/raptors-news-rj-barretts-knee-injury-puts-damper-clutch-win-over-nets">for the Toronto Raptors heading into the 2025-26 season</a>. But with the team playing with house money, they have been thriving. On Monday night, the Raptors took home another victory, this time a 110-105 win against another fellow Eastern Conference contender Cleveland Cavaliers, to move to 13-5 on the season. They are currently second in the East standings, which is such a big win considering how the previous seasons went for them.</p><p>In fact, the Raptors are playing at a level that would make every fan of the team proud. This win against the Cavs marks their eighth consecutive win, which according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet, <a href="https://x.com/BlakeMurphyODC/status/1993144021905035581" rel="noopener">ties their fifth-longest win streak</a> in franchise history. That is no mean feat, especially when the Raptors were consistently a good team from 2013 to 2022.</p><p>Little did people know at the time that Brandon Ingram would become a transformative figure for the Raptors. Ingram’s stock was at an all-time low, what with the New Orleans Pelicans refusing to offer him a contract extension amid his injury woes. He was even connected to a potential trade to the Cavs, with Jarrett Allen heading to the Big Easy.</p><p>But the Raptors pounced on the opportunity to trade for Ingram, and they even gave him the extension he’s been seeking. As a result, I<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/toronto-raptors/raptors-news-scottie-barnes-shares-simple-plan-to-let-brandon-ingram-cook">ngram is playing some of the best basketball</a> of his career, and that could not have been any more evident in his 37-point night on Monday vs. the Cavs.</p><h2><b>Raptors are turning the corner</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Raptors-forward-Brandon-Ingram-3-drives.jpg"><figcaption>© John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>The Raptors were catching some flak during the offseason for having one of the most expensive player payrolls in the association without having many good results to show for it. But they have turned the corner, with Ingram seizing first-option duties, freeing Scottie Barnes to roam around and fulfill his calling as a multi-positional wrecker who can play bully ball on both ends of the court.</p><p>This strong start from the Raptors is no fluke. They have a net rating of +6.8 to start the year, which shows that they are winning against opponents by a healthy margin.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Raptors tie milestone after dominating Donovan Mitchell, Cavs

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-passes-kyrie-irving-franchise-history-latest-shooting-explosion');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell passes Kyrie Irving in franchise history with latest shooting explosion');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CAVS-NATION-Cavs-news-Donovan-Mitchell-passes-Kyrie-Irving-in-franchise-history-with-latest-shooting-explosion.jpg"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell passes Kyrie Irving in franchise history with latest shooting explosion</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-11-24T09:00:20-08:00">November 24th, 9:00am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-11-24T09:00:20-08:00">November 24th, 9:00am</time><address><a>Rohan Brahmbhatt</a>Rohan Brahmbhatt is an adventure-driven sports writer, passionate footballer, mountaineer, and photojournalist. Rohan blends firsthand experience with storytelling—capturing the intensity of sport and the thrill of exploration. Whether on the field, a mountain trail, or behind the lens, he brings authentic, high-energy narratives that connect readers to the heart of the action.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cleveland Cavaliers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Donovan Mitchell continues to cement his legacy in Cleveland with another milestone in franchise history. The Cavaliers’ star guard recently surpassed Kyrie Irving on the team’s all-time made three-pointers list, achieving the feat in just 210 games, compared to Irving’s 381.</p><p>Mitchell, now in his fourth season with the Cavs after the blockbuster trade with Utah in September 2022, has been nothing short of spectacular. For the first time in his career, he is shooting over 50% from the field, showcasing a level of efficiency that has helped propel the Cavs to third place in the Eastern Conference.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="instagram-media"><div style="padding: 16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DRa4LQ0DFtJ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="line-height: 0; padding: 0 0; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; width: 100%;" target="_blank"> <div style="display: flex;"><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div><div style="display: flex;"><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div><div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"><div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div><div style="display: flex; margin-bottom: 14px;"><div><div></div><div></div><div></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div><div></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"><div></div><div></div><div></div></div></div><div style="display: flex; margin-bottom: 24px;"><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div><p></p></a></div></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p></figure><p>The milestone came during Cleveland’s recent game against the Los Angeles Clippers, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-money-spot-career-nba-mvp">where Mitchell’s shooting was on full display.</a> His hot hand from beyond the arc not only put him past Kyrie Irving on the three-point list but also highlighted his evolution into a premier sniper for the franchise.</p><p>While Irving’s game leaned more heavily on mid-range scoring, Mitchell has proven to be a lethal threat from deep, reshaping the Cavs’ offensive identity in the process.</p><p>But Mitchell’s journey on the all-time <a href="https://heavy.com/sports/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/donovan-mitchell-passes-kyrie-in-threes/" rel="noopener">three-pointers list</a> doesn’t stop there. With just 78 threes remaining, he is closing in on Mark Price, the legendary Cavs guard who sits at number four in franchise history. Surpassing Price would mark yet another historic moment, solidifying Mitchell’s status as one of Cleveland’s greatest shooters.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-darius-garland-jarrett-allen-playing-pacers-nba-cup-injury-report">Fellow starter Darius Garland</a>, who already has 907 made threes, is also on the list, but if Mitchell maintains his current pace, he could eventually eclipse his backcourt partner as well. The combination of Mitchell’s scoring efficiency, deep range, and clutch performance is turning him into a centerpiece of the Cavs’ future.</p><p>As the season progresses, all eyes will be on Mitchell to see how high he can climb on the franchise’s all-time lists. Passing Irving is just the beginning; the Cavs may be witnessing the rise of a player who could soon rewrite the team’s record books, one three-pointer at a time.</p><p>With the Cavs poised for a playoff run, Donovan Mitchell’s sharpshooting continues to make history and excite fans in Cleveland, proving that the gamble to bring him over from Utah has already paid tremendous dividends.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell passes Kyrie Irving in franchise history with latest shooting explosion

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-money-spot-career-nba-mvp');   ga('set', 'title', 'In ‘money spot’ of career, Donovan Mitchell needs to be in NBA MVP conversation');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Cleveland-Cavaliers-guard-Donovan-Mitchell.jpg"><figcaption>Ken Blaze-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>In ‘money spot’ of career, Donovan Mitchell needs to be in NBA MVP conversation</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-11-23T22:49:33-08:00">November 23rd, 10:49pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-11-23T22:56:30-08:00">November 23rd, 10:56pm</time><address><a href="https://spindavies.myportfolio.com/home">Spencer Davies</a>Spencer Davies has covered the NBA and the Cleveland Cavaliers as a credentialed reporter for over a decade. His work has appeared on Basketball News, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, USA Today, FOX Sports, HoopsHype, CloseUp360, FanSided, and Basketball Insiders, among others. In addition to his journalistic experience, he has been a senior editor, a digital production assistant, a social media manager, a sports radio anchor, and a producer.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cleveland Cavaliers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Donovan Mitchell lived up to his reputation once more on Sunday, as he willed the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 120-105 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers to cap a six-game homestand at Rocket Arena to spoil <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/los-angeles-clippers/clippers-news-is-kawhi-leonard-finally-injury-return-against-cavs">Kawhi Leonard’s return game</a>. Whether it was getting downhill, hitting his usual left-drifting threes off the dribble, or dazzling with his vision, Mitchell gave the Clippers all they could handle (or couldn’t).</p><p>Mitchell finished with 37 points on 14 of 22 from the field, knocking down five of nine triples. He also added eight rebounds, six assists, and a steal, only turning the ball over twice. It is the 10th time this season that Mitchell has scored at least 30 points, and the fifth occurrence in the team’s last six contests.</p><p>Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson called it “insane,” grinning while shaking his head in awe: “Is there anybody, any guard, playing as well as him in the league?”</p><p>It’s not Mitchell’s points that stood out to Atkinson in Cleveland’s latest win. Instead, it was his passing chops, including multiple alley-oop hookups with Evan Mobley and 13 potential assists.</p><p>“He’s just in a great place,” Atkinson said. “Great, great demeanor. He’s got great control of the game. He’s in this kind of money spot in his career. He’s just kind of got control of everything, and then, just great on the bench leadership-wise.”</p><p>For the man himself, Mitchell is just trying to do a bit of everything. With Jarrett Allen out, he especially knows he’s got to help with the boards battle, which will help start fastbreaks and won’t allow opponents to match up. His assists will come naturally as a product of taking what the defense gives him.</p><p>“For me, this is who I am, and I just gotta continue to do that consistently and do whatever’s needed of me to win the game,” Mitchell said.</p><p>“That’s the Don I’m used to seeing,” De’Andre Hunter added. “Being on another team before, watching other guys in the league, he’s one of the dudes that you’d see almost every night with some spectacular plays or some scoring outputs.”</p><p>Clippers big man Ivica Zubac was crushing the wine and gold on the interior, hitting jump hook after jump hook to the point where the Clippers cut it down to a one-point game late into the third quarter. So, Mitchell took matters into his hands, catching a Tyrese Proctor inbound pass on the block for a baseline left-hand layup, plus the foul. The following possession, he drove into John Collins and finished another and-one opportunity high off the glass. As the clock ticked under a minute, he drilled a transition trey.</p><p>Mitchell finished the frame with a zip pass to Evan Mobley for a dunk as time expired, where Cleveland took a 13-point lead into the fourth. He even had a defensive possession where he swatted away an entry pass on help like a defensive back with Zubac in the low post.</p><p>This kind of consistency and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGcx1ng3kUQ" rel="noopener">stat-sheet stuffing</a> suggests that Mitchell is playing the most complete basketball of his career. Danny Cunningham of The Inside Shot asked him if that was the case after Sunday’s game.</p><p>“I would think so,” Mitchell said. “I felt like I was in shape early, but also understanding you’re at a different point in your career where you see things differently. You understand the guys around you, you understand what’s going on, you’re reading, and obviously, scoring-wise, I feel like I’m at my best right now, efficiency-wise.</p><p>“But I think, yeah, just as a complete player… I think the only thing I complain about to myself is the turnovers. That’s just because I’m trying to get better as a playmaker. I say that every year, but turning those down and getting those down would be great. But I think as a whole, I think I am, and just gotta be consistent with it all year.”</p><p>Earlier this month, backcourt partner and fellow All-Star guard Darius Garland was outspoken after <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-enters-lebron-james-territory-bonkers-eruption-76ers">Mitchell dropped 46 points, dished out eight assists, and grabbed four rebounds against the Philadelphia 76ers</a>. It was a hallmark game, with a 15-of-21 field-goal output, but hardly any surprise.</p><p>“The Spida that we know, MVP that we know, First Team All-NBA that we know he should be every year,” Garland said. “It was good to see him, and that. We really need that to go forward, and he’s starting to realize that. But he also wants us to do our thing as well. So it’s a give-and-take type of thing with Don, but we really need Don to go be Don.”</p><h2><b>Donovan Mitchell should be in NBA MVP conversations at the very least</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Donovan-Mitchell-1_41bfb1.jpg"><figcaption>Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Cleveland’s loss to the Indiana Pacers in the postseason opened Mitchell’s eyes. While he has to put the ball in the basket, it’s also about getting guys in the right spots at the right times, especially in an evolving NBA where the tempo is increasing from game to game.</p><p>“That kind of prepared me to come out here and say, ‘Okay, even though they are pressuring you, it’s not always downhill to attack. It’s downhill to create and then hit a skip pass,'” Mitchell explained. “Or, ‘Pass the ball ahead,’ or, ‘Alright, you’ve gotta improve your catch and shoots because if you don’t shoot that, now you’re driving into a crowd.’ Playing out of the post in certain situations. Shooting your mid-rangers more. Like, being efficient in everything.</p><p>“That’s what last year’s playoffs really taught me. It’s like, if you have to continue to drive full court <i>every single possession</i>, you’re gonna tire out, you won’t be efficient. And I don’t just mean scoring; I just mean overall as a basketball player. So I think for me, just finding different ways to score, different ways to be a threat, and then that opens up everything else.”</p><p>With Sunday’s NBA slate complete, Mitchell ranks fifth in the NBA at 30.8 points per game, only behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Maxey, and Luka Doncic. His 65.6% True Shooting percentage is a top-10 figure in the league, and, according to Basketball Reference, Mitchell has a 7.1 Box Plus-Minus as well.</p><p>Although it’s easy to take high-scoring performances for granted with so much talent scattered around, this is deserving of attention because of the positive impact it has on the Cavs. Without Mitchell on the floor, Cleveland’s offensive rating has dipped by 11.6, and its effective field goal percentage is 6.6% worse, per Cleaning The Glass.</p><p>Things are <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-darius-garland-jaylon-tyson-return-uplift-latest-win">getting less clunky now that Garland is in the mix again at point guard</a>; still, the wine and gold have been dependent on the 29-year-old to bail them out a ton.</p><p>“We’ve got to still figure some things out. We can’t have Donovan be our savior all the time, but as we get guys back, we’ll get better,” Atkinson said.</p><p>There’s healthy competition for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, and we’re not even close to determining the winner of that race yet, with plenty of months ahead.</p><p>But Mitchell is forcing his way into the conversation.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

In ‘money spot’ of career, Donovan Mitchell needs to be in NBA MVP conversation

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/gaming/donovan-mitchell-rises-in-new-nba-2k26-ratings-update');   ga('set', 'title', 'Donovan Mitchell rises in new NBA 2K26 Ratings Update');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Donovan-Mitchell-Rises-in-new-NBA-2K26-Ratings-Update.jpg"><figcaption>ClutchPoints</figcaption></figure><h1>Donovan Mitchell rises in new NBA 2K26 Ratings Update</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-11-21T08:44:04-08:00">November 21st, 8:44am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-11-21T08:44:04-08:00">November 21st, 8:44am</time><address><a>Massimo Marchiano</a>Massimo Marchiano is part of ClutchPoints' Gaming team, specializing in Sports Video Games. He's also the published author of "Dawkin: A Tall Tale", a sci-fi western novel. When he's not writing about cowboys and aliens, he's watching his favorite Philly Sports team lose (or winning with them himself in his favorite video games).</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>A new <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/nba-stories/nba-2k26-review">NBA 2K26</a> Player Ratings Update has dropped, making it the second one for the month of November. Players like Donovan Mitchell and Cade Cunningham received significant boosts to their OVR, as well as several other players across various teams. We’ll go over the biggest changes, winners, and losers. Without further ado, let’s check out the latest NBA 2K26 Player Ratings Update for the month of November.</p><h2><b>Donovan Mitchell Headlines Biggest Winners in new NBA 2K26 Ratings Update</b></h2><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">🚨 New <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/2KRatings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#2KRatings</a> just dropped! 🚨</p><p>Let's hear your take on these 💬 <a href="https://t.co/0fWaJGPaci">pic.twitter.com/0fWaJGPaci</a></p><p>— NBA 2K (@NBA2K) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA2K/status/1991567218870497635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p><b>Donovan Mitchell received a boost to his NBA 2K26 rating, bringing him to a 94 OVR.</b> A +1 boost may seem small, but it’s actually difficult for 90+ OVR players to consistently improve their OVR. Mitchell has proved he’s more than deserving of a boost in a season where he averages around 30 points per game. He helped lead the Cavaliers to a 7-3 record in the last 10 games after starting the season 3-3. We look forward to seeing how he performs moving forward.</p><p>Cade Cunningham also saw a +1 boost to his rating, bringing him up to a 93 OVR. Despite being 2nd in the league in Assists per game (9.9), Cunningham also manages to be a top 15-scorer (27.3 PPG). Furthermore, the Pistons are currently on an 11-game win streak, which Cunningham obviously deserves a lot of credit for.</p><p>Lastly, Atlanta Hawks’ Forward Jalen Johnson saw a +2 boost to his OVR, bringing him up to an 87. It’s still very early in the season, but Johnson has been posting his best averages so far in 14 games. He averages over 22 points per game while also earning roughly 10 rebounds per game. Additionally, Johnson is very accurate, with a 58% FG percentage so far this season (which ranks at 14th best).</p><p>Now, for the full list of ratings updates in NBA 2K26 for the month of November:</p><p><b>ATLANTIC</b></p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Donovan Mitchell rises in new NBA 2K26 Ratings Update

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/news/rick-pitino-drops-the-real-story-behind-cavs-donovan-mitchell-signing');   ga('set', 'title', 'Rick Pitino drops the real story behind Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell signing');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.cavsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Cavs-Donovan-Mitchell-Rick-Pitino.jpg"><figcaption>Jason Getz-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Rick Pitino drops the real story behind Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell signing</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-11-20T16:16:50-08:00">November 20th, 4:16pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-11-20T16:16:50-08:00">November 20th, 4:16pm</time><address><a>Josue Pavon</a>Josue Pavon is an Associate Editor for ClutchPoints and Cavs Nation, as well as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat writer for ClutchPoints.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cavs News</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Years before <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-cleveland-let-last-season-go-early-lull">All-Star Donovan Mitchell led the Cleveland Cavs</a> to their best record in franchise history, Louisville basketball head coach Rick Pitino had eyes for the five-star recruit. The former Cardinals coach recounted the moment Mitchell committed to Louisville.</p><p>Pitino shared with the New York Knicks guards Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart how Mitchell <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggCqbjVEEE&amp;t=759s" rel="noopener">made his final decision</a>, per Roommates Show.</p><p>“When Donovan Mitchell came to me, and it was funny because he was down to Villanova, Indiana, and Providence. And I watched him in summer basketball, and I loved him,” Pitino said. “I thought he was a freak athlete, but he couldn’t shoot. So I called him up, he just narrowed his list down from six to three, and I said, ‘I want you to visit Louisville. I can really help you.’ Every morning, I do player development sessions.”</p><p>Pitino revealed that he had vowed to make Mitchell a better shooter, and before leaving the weekend the two spent together, Donovan announced his commitment.</p><p>“So we went through it. And on Sunday, he’s getting ready to leave with his mom. Saturday night, we have dinner at Jeff Rubie’s in Louisville. And he’s winking at his mom,” Pitino added. “He says, ‘coach where is the restroom?’ and my phone is blowing up in my pocket, but I don’t want to take it out. Finally, it won’t stop, and my kids are telling me that Donovan Mitchell just committed.</p><p>“In the bathroom, he went on Twitter and committed to Louisville. He came back and said, ‘Coach, stand up.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Give me a hug, I’m a Louisville Cardinal.’”</p><h2><b>Rick Pitino vowed to ‘fix’ Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell’s shot</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.cavsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Cavs-Donovan-Mitchell-Rick-Pitino-2.jpg"><figcaption>Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Cavs All-Star <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-shows-up-in-style-to-support-louisville-in-kentucky-clash">Donovan Mitchell still supports his Louisville alma mater</a>, which all started with coach Rick Pitino’s brutal honesty. Pitino didn’t hold back when he told Mitchell about his raw jump shot, one he vowed to develop under his tutelage.</p><p>“So I said, ‘I can really help you. Your jump shot is broken.’ And he said, ‘What do you mean my jump shot is broken?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m sure that Jay Wright and the coach of Indiana and the coach of Providence have told you that.’ He said, ‘No, nobody’s ever told me I had a broken jump shot.’ He said, ‘Coach I’m down to three schools and I just went from six to three.’ I said, ‘just visit. Watch the player development session,” Pitino said.</p><p>“I’m going to put you on the split screen with Steph Curry. I’m going to show you Steph Curry’s arch, I’m going to show you your arch.’”</p><p>Mitchell is a six-time All-Star in his fourth season with the Cavs.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Rick Pitino drops the real story behind Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell signing

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-kenny-atkinson-donovan-mitchell-evan-mobley-nba-fine');   ga('set', 'title', 'Kenny Atkinson defends Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley rest decision amid NBA’s fine');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/20251117_tbs_ar7_062.jpg"><figcaption>David Richard-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Kenny Atkinson defends Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley rest decision amid NBA’s fine</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-11-19T15:52:07-08:00">November 19th, 3:52pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-11-19T15:52:07-08:00">November 19th, 3:52pm</time><address><a href="https://spindavies.myportfolio.com/home">Spencer Davies</a>Spencer Davies has covered the NBA and the Cleveland Cavaliers as a credentialed reporter for over a decade. His work has appeared on Basketball News, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, USA Today, FOX Sports, HoopsHype, CloseUp360, FanSided, and Basketball Insiders, among others. In addition to his journalistic experience, he has been a senior editor, a digital production assistant, a social media manager, a sports radio anchor, and a producer.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cleveland Cavaliers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson minced no words on Wednesday regarding the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-cleveland-fined-donovan-mitchell-evan-mobley-miami">NBA’s $100,000 fine for resting Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley</a> last week. Asked multiple times about the punishment, Atkinson initially left well enough alone before expressing his disagreement with the league’s decision.</p><p>“I’ve got to look at the Cavs’ best interest,” Atkinson said in his pregame press conference before the Cavs’ matchup with the Houston Rockets.</p><p>“Fifteen games in 27 days, let that sink in to everybody. We’re sitting here in our seats. But three back-to-backs. We’re going into a fourth back-to-back. I think my No. 1 job is to continue to protect the health of our players. So, [it’s] kind of that simple.”</p><p>In the middle of a five-in-seven stretch, Atkinson shared that he wouldn’t change his approach to last week’s game in Miami, which the Cavs won 130-116. Cleveland <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-depth-jarrett-allen-stunning-win-heat-down-three-all-star-starters">showcased its depth and developed players while coming out victorious</a>.</p><p>“From a competitive standpoint, I mean, we won that game, too,” Atkinson said. “So to me, you throw that on top of it, and it’s like, wait a second, are you discrediting the guys that played that night?</p><p>“We get penalized for it? I don’t know if that makes sense to you guys; it doesn’t make sense to me. I understand the league has their policies, but again, I’m just looking at it from my perspective and my team and our organization. I’m sure the NBA doesn’t agree with everything I do. It’s a great league, it’s a great product. I’ve gotta [look out for] our guys.”</p><p>Immediately after the win over the Heat, the team boarded a flight back home and landed at 3:30 a.m. ET on the same day that it had to host the Toronto Raptors on the second night of a back-to-back.</p><p>Managing players and prioritizing their physical health have become paramount for NBA coaches nowadays. Atkinson and <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-head-coach-kenny-atkinson-steve-kerr-fewer-regular-season-games">Cleveland’s performance staff will continue to act in the best interest</a> of the roster’s well-being. Atkinson believes that basketball is a different game now, with not just pace, but intensity of play. That, combined with the tight schedule, has emphasized the need for extra caution throughout a long season.</p><p>“It’s not just running up and down the court, it’s how do you do that,” Atkinson said. “Teams are pressing farther up the court, which means we’ve got to cover more ground to turn guys. More teams are offensive rebounding; the rate is higher than ever. So, physically, you’ve got to go crash and then you got to get back right before you just got back. So add that onto the ledger.</p><p>“Everybody knows transition possessions are the most valuable possessions in the game, so everybody’s seeking that out. It’s like baseball. Everyone’s trying to be so efficient in what we do, which is our job. Every pitcher’s trying to throw a hundred whatever [innings]. Now, obviously when you look for efficiency, sometimes you’ve just got to do it intelligently. I’m not saying the league isn’t, but we’ve got to figure this out.”</p><p>The Cavs want to be at their strongest when the playoffs roll around, and this strategy gives them the best chance to achieve that goal.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Kenny Atkinson defends Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley rest decision amid NBA’s fine

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-cleveland-fined-donovan-mitchell-evan-mobley-miami');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cavs fined $100,000 for sitting Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Cleveland-Cavaliers-guard-Donovan-Mitchell-45-center-Evan-Mobley-4-and-Detroit-Pistons-forward-Isaiah-Stewart-28-1.jpg"><figcaption>David Richard-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cavs fined $100,000 for sitting Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-11-18T20:37:11-08:00">November 18th, 8:37pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-11-18T20:37:11-08:00">November 18th, 8:37pm</time><address><a href="https://spindavies.myportfolio.com/home">Spencer Davies</a>Spencer Davies has covered the NBA and the Cleveland Cavaliers as a credentialed reporter for over a decade. His work has appeared on Basketball News, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, USA Today, FOX Sports, HoopsHype, CloseUp360, FanSided, and Basketball Insiders, among others. In addition to his journalistic experience, he has been a senior editor, a digital production assistant, a social media manager, a sports radio anchor, and a producer.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Cleveland Cavaliers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The NBA has fined the Cleveland Cavaliers $100,000 for sitting <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-news-donovan-mitchell-cleveland-let-last-season-go-early-lull">Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley</a> in Miami last Wednesday. The league released a statement <a href="https://pr.nba.com/cavaliers-fined-11-18-25/" rel="noopener">on the matter</a> on Tuesday evening.</p><p>“The NBA announced today that the Cleveland Cavaliers have been fined $100,000 for violating the league’s Player Participation Policy. The violation occurred when the Cavaliers held Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, who are both star players under the Policy, out of the team’s game against the Miami Heat on Nov. 12 for rest. The Policy, which was adopted prior to the 2023-24 season, is intended to promote participation in the NBA’s regular season.”</p><p>Though likely disappointing to fans in South Beach that night, it wasn’t surprising to see the Cavs rest two of their stars in a rematch with the Heat. For one, they were coming off an <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/miami-heat/heat-news-erik-spoelstra-reveals-how-andrew-wiggins-game-winning-dunk-vs-cavs-was-4-years-in-the-making">overtime spectacle that ended on a buzzer-beating alley-oop from an inbound pass</a>. Mitchell played 41 minutes and Mobley logged 39 minutes, both game-highs.</p><p>Additionally, Cleveland had to fly back home the next night to host the Toronto Raptors; the team didn’t get into town until 3 a.m. ET. It was a brutal turnaround for a road-home second night of a back-to-back that the wine and gold wound up dropping with Mitchell and Mobley active, anyhow.</p><p>The Cavs have already played in 15 games to this point. Entering Tuesday, only the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, and Oklahoma City Thunder could say the same.</p><p>After Wednesday night’s tilt against the Houston Rockets, Cleveland will have played its fifth game in seven days. Following that, the wine and gold will have games on Friday and Sunday vs. the Indiana Pacers and LA Clippers to finish the longest homestand of the year before Thanksgiving. There hasn’t been a single practice yet.</p><p>Cavs head coach <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/cavs-head-coach-kenny-atkinson-steve-kerr-fewer-regular-season-games">Kenny Atkinson passionately stated his case for fewer games</a> at the beginning of the season, and Warriors head coach <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/warriors-news-ex-suns-star-pushes-back-on-steve-kerrs-tough-claim-about-schedule">Steve Kerr brought it to light</a> again on Tuesday. Clearly, there’s a disconnect between the teams and the league regarding what constitutes a fair workload.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

2025-26 SEASON STATS
PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL
30.8	5.0	5.3	0.4	1.4

2025-26 SEASON STATS
PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL
30.8	5.0	5.3	0.4	1.4

Donovan Mitchell news

Donovan
Mitchell news