Donovan Mitchell Details How He ‘Set a Tone’ for Cavaliers vs. 76ers

Donovan Mitchell had Cleveland’s first three field goals inside the opening 80 seconds Friday night: a driving finger roll, a transition layup, and a 20-footer on the break. The Cleveland Cavaliers never trailed after the second one and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 119-95 at Rocket Arena.

Mitchell finished with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals in 33 minutes. He shot 7-of-18 from the field and 8-of-10 at the line. His plus-28 was the best mark on either team.

Oklahoma City had beaten Cleveland twice earlier in the week, 117-112 at home on Monday and 124-116 on the road Wednesday. In the second of those, the Cavaliers fell behind 37-20 in the first quarter and turned it over five times in that period.

“I think just the response to the past two games, right?” Mitchell said. “If we could have that first quarter back in OKC, I think we’d all want that quarter back. We played three quarters of solid basketball, so my biggest thing was just trying to be aggressive, set a tone.”

“It’s a balance, right? Because not every game calls for that,” Mitchell continued. “But it’s just finding those moments, and it’s not just score, right? Tonight just happened to be the first three buckets, but after that, it was like trying to find ways to get guys involved and just be a playmaker, whatever comes with that.”

Mitchell scored 27 in Oklahoma City, 14 of them in the fourth quarter, with four 3s in the final 3:11. Cleveland had lost three of four before Friday. Through nine games, Mitchell is averaging 22.6 points.

Mitchell scored 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting in the first quarter. He also set up both of Meleek Thomas’ first-quarter 3s and a Thomas Bryant dunk in transition.

Three more assists went to Evan Mobley in the second quarter. One was an alley-oop dunk, one a driving layup, and one a 25-foot 3. Mitchell had 7 assists at the break and added 1 more after it. In the third quarter, he scored 10 more points and went 5-of-6 at the free-throw line, and Cleveland took a 91-74 lead into the fourth.

Off the floor late in the fourth quarter, Mitchell was still telling teammates to keep pushing, Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.

“He feels the moment,” Atkinson said. “He knows we needed this, needed this win. So he’s got a great sense of the moment when he’s got to turn it, turn it up, and made some great passes too. So, yeah, he was very aggressive tonight.”

Offensively, Mobley wants to be the big man who applies force to the rim. He scored 22 on 8-of-13 shooting, made 3 of 4 from deep, and was plus-17.

“I think Don did a great job today getting to the paint and making the reads from there as well,” Mobley said. “Sometimes you draw fouls, get all the way to the rim and score. Sometimes he’s kicking it out to the three or passing it to me. And I think when he’s able to get down two feet in the paint and make those decisions, we’re the best playing like that, and so we just got to keep doing that every single game.”

“And I think it also has to do with me as well, setting good screens and being available, getting into pockets, the wing players as well, getting into windows and making it easier for them so we can make those reads,” Mobley added.

Philadelphia forced 21 turnovers in the Oct. 22 opener, a 114-106 76ers win in which Mitchell scored 32 and had 5 of the giveaways. The 76ers entered Friday averaging 8.9 steals per game.

Mitchell said Philadelphia tries to make him and James Harden work to bring the ball up.

“I think it’s a balance too, though, right?” Mitchell explained. “The biggest thing was we were able to get boards, right, and then that led to us pushing the pace. Obviously Sam coming out, Meleek coming in and being that firecracker, whatever you want to call it. He’s just out there full of energy, which we love.”

“Especially when teams like these guys are going to try to make myself, James have to work to bring the ball up,” Mitchell continued. “When you have a guy that can bring it up — Ev as well, right? Just continue to get out and get easy ones. But you got to get stops in order to do that, and I think that’s when we’re at our best: stops and being able to go.”

Cleveland outrebounded Philadelphia 56-42 and had 16 fast-break points. The 76ers had 8 steals, and the Cavaliers committed 15 turnovers. Mitchell had 4 of them. Harden, who entered the night averaging a team-high 6.3 assists, finished with 17 points and 3 assists.

Sam Merrill made his first start of the season but did not return after halftime because of an elbow injury. Thomas, the No. 34 pick in June, started the second half and finished with 12 points.

Cleveland hosts the New York Knicks at 8 p.m. ET Saturday on NBA TV.