THE Cleveland Cavaliers they would not have been deleted on Friday evening, regardless of the result of game 3 of their series of the second round with the Indiana PacersBut it was “thousands percent” a game not to be missed in the eyes of the stellar guard Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell offered a performance worthy of the stakes, paying 43 points and adding nine rebounds and five assists to bring the knights to a comfortable victory for 126-104. The series is now 2-1 in favor of the Pacer, which is a much more manageable deficit than the 3-0 for the overall seed of the Eastern Conference, which has dropped the first two games in the house in a stunning way.
“For me and my mental, I didn’t necessarily say [it was a must-win game] to everyone. I kept it for me, “Mitchell said.” Because understanding if you go down 3-0, it’s difficult. So yes, this was a must-win. We left a slip at home, disappoint fans at home, so we have to find a way to bounce and we did it. In the end, everything we did is win a game, we have to do it again on Sunday “.
Mitchell, who had 48 points in the collapse of the match 2 of Cavaliers, joined Lebron James On Friday like the only players in the story of Cavaliers to record the games of 40 back-to-back points in the playoffs. He was also united Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant And Michael Jordan like the only players in the last 50 years with at least 90 points and 25 have made free shots in a duration of two games in the playoffs.
It took a few minutes for Mitchell to finally climb the scoreboard, which he did on a 3-pointer in the middle of the first quarter, and was not until the second in which he was really rolled. He scored 11 points in the chassis, almost combining the total of the pars as a team (13), and helped the knights to build an advantage of 21 points at the head of the break.
In the second half, Mitchell rejected the race after the race by the Pacers, who valiantly tried to return to the game but was unable to make another spectacular return. In particular, after the Pacers had reduced the deficit to 11 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Mitchell replied by scoring or assisting on 16 consecutive points of Cavaliers to push the advantage to 24 and essentially end the game.
The Cavs have now firmly returned to the series, but they know they still have a lot of work to do. A loss in game 4 on Sunday and returned to a hole.
“It’s 2-1, but we didn’t do anything,” Mitchell said. “We won a game. We have to do it again. This was my message. We are not celebrating, we are not smiling. We came here to do two games and we played one. The neighbor will be the most difficult game of the series.”