Not all 50-point games are created equal, and Donovan Mitchell’s was exceptional.
The 6-foot-1 Cavaliers star erupted for 50 against an elite Magic defense in Game 6 of their first-round series.
Unfortunately, it was in a 103-96 loss, but Mitchell did all he could — netting each of Cleveland’s final 22 points, including all of the team’s 18 in the fourth quarter.
He recorded 36 of his 50 points in the paint.
And this was during a game he temporarily exited due to an apparent knee injury, and he was visibly compromised, unable to showcase his elite athleticism during the performance.
Mitchell’s 50 points were done efficiently, scoring on 22 of 36 of his field goal attempts, good for a 61.1 percent display.
And his shooting wasn’t souped up by an imbalanced number of 3-pointers, only hitting 3-for-9 from deep.
But he also only went 3-for-6 from the free-throw line.
The Cavaliers went to the free throw line just 10 times, despite the numerous times they attacked the paint, but Mitchell didn’t want to use that as an excuse.
“I wanna preface this by wanting to give credit to Orlando. This is not an excuse — Credit to Orlando, they beat us,” Mitchell said in his postgame press conference.
The Cavs, outside of Mitchell, shot 20 of 50 from the field — good for just 40 percent.
And aside from even Mitchell’s inefficiency from deep, they were worse, hitting just 4-for-19 from downtown.
Game 7 of the series will take place on Sunday, with the winner moving on to face the No. 1 seed Celtics, who eliminated the No. 8 Heat from playoff contention on Wednesday.
