Feb 23, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrates in the fourth quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
NBA: Denver Nuggets at Cleveland Cavaliers
Anything for Mom, right?
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell had one of the greatest scoring performances in NBA history earlier this season when he scored a gargantuan 71 points in an overtime win versus the Chicago Bulls. Now, 70 points is an incredibly rare point total: Since the turn of the century, it has only happened three times until that game. I’m sure Mitchell went to bed that night thinking it’d be awhile since someone came close to that total.
Cue Damian Lillard.
With 41 points at halftime, the whole NBA world tuned in to the Blazer’s thrashing of the Rockets on Sunday. He proceeded to score 30 points in the second half to finish with 71 points on 13 threes, which arguably was more impressive than Mitchell’s game since he didn’t need any extra time to hit that mark.
Obviously, the performance lit the sports community aflame, but it was Mitchell’s reaction that stole the show:
“My mom calls me and says @Dame_Lillard tied your record… you gotta get 72 now,” Mitchell tweeted.
72 is, as established, a tall task. But in an NBA season full of crazy statlines, who knows?
