Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) gestures to the crowd during Game 1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) gestures to the crowd during Game 1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the Indiana Pacers Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
CLEVELAND (AP) 鈥 Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers broke one of Michael Jordan’s NBA playoff records on Sunday night.
The All-Star guard would rather be one victory closer to a championship.
Mitchell finished with 33 points in , his eighth straight game with at least 30 points in a series opener.
Jordan had two seven-game streaks of 30 points in Game 1s (from 1991 to 1993 and 1997 to 1998) while leading the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles.
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鈥淛ordan won Game 1. I didn鈥檛,鈥 Mitchell said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always great to be in great company. But man, we lost. I shot 30 times. I always try to be aggressive to start a series.鈥
Jordan was 6-1 during both of his streaks in Game 1. Mitchell is 4-4, including 2-3 in series openers with Cleveland since coming over in a trade from Utah in September 2022.
Mitchell helped Cleveland rally in the third quarter after it fell behind by 12 points. He scored nine during a 20-4 run that put the Cavs up 88-84.
Cleveland led midway through the fourth quarter, but couldn’t close it out.
Mitchell set the mark with a layup that gave him 31 points with 4:50 left in the game and got the Cavs within 107-104. But Andrew Nembhard buried a 3-pointer on Indiana’s ensuing trip.
Mitchell was 13 of 30 from the field, but made only one of his 11 3-point attempts. The Cavs made just 23.7% from beyond the arc (9 of 38) in one of their worst-shooting games of the season.
鈥淲e missed open looks. But I’m not going to sit here and say, 鈥極h, if we make shots, we win games.鈥 We鈥檝e got to find a way to still win this game, even though we don鈥檛 make shots. And ultimately, we didn鈥檛 do that tonight. Just be ready for Game 2,” Mitchell said.
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Mitchell’s streak began with the Utah Jazz during the 2020 playoffs 鈥 held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, during the COVID-19 pandemic 鈥 when he scored 57 points against the Denver Nuggets. That remains a Jazz playoff record and the third-highest-scoring performance in NBA postseason history.
Mitchell is averaging 33.2 points in series openers, second-highest in NBA history for a player who has taken part in at least 10 postseason series. His playoff average of 27.9 points is seventh-best among players with at least 50 games.
鈥淲e鈥檙e fortunate because he missed a lot of ones he鈥檚 usually going to make,鈥 Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just one game.鈥
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