The Cleveland Cavaliers ' success in the NBA has long been linked to LeBron James. Prior to Sunday, the last time that the Cavs won a playoff series without LeBron was in 1993 when a Mark Price-led Cavs team won Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Nets. Since then, it had been all King James. Not anymore.
Donovan Mitchell scored 39 points to lead the Cavs to a 106-94 win in Game 7 against the Orlando Magic. Cleveland has now advanced to the second round for the first time since 2018, when they last made the NBA Finals.
"It's an honor to be part of history in that regard," said Mitchell after the game when told of the history they just accomplished. "But the biggest thing is, and I told everyone in the locker room and I don't mean it as a disrespect, but this doesn't really mean much. We didn't make the group we made just to come in and win the first round."
Cavs erase the largest Game 7 lead ever
But winning their first playoff series without Bron since 1993 wasn't the only historic thing that the Cavs accomplished on Sunday. The Cavaliers rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit to win Sunday's game. That's the largest Game 7 deficit ever overcome since at least 1997.
Mitchell also etched his name in the NBA record books. His 89 combined points scored in the final two games of the series were the second-most points scored ever in a Game 6 and 7, falling just a point short of the record set by Allen Iverson during the 2001 playoffs. But as Spida said, the accomplishments don't mean much right now.
"Obviously, we have a tall task in Boston," added Mitchell. "But like I said after Game 5, one of you asked 'What does this win mean?' It doesn't mean anything. We accomplished one goal. Now we can do it again. That's the mindset. We will celebrate this for a few hours but we ain't got really time to do that. That's my mindset. When they traded for me, it wasn't just to win a first-round series. It's to continue to push and move forward. I think that's where all of our heads are at."
We want Boston!
There has been plenty of talk about Mitchell's future in Cleveland, but the reason why the Cavs acquired Mitchell for six players, including three unprotected first-round picks, was to bring the glory years back to The Land. The Cavaliers made the playoffs in Mitchell's first season last year. They are at least one round better this year.
The Cleveland crowd chanted ' We want Boston ' during the final minutes of Game 7. However, the top-seeded Celtics are heavily favored to beat the Cavaliers in the opening Las Vegas odds released shortly after the game. Boston also won their 2023-24 regular season series 2-1, winning both games played at the TD Garden.
But while the Celtics are expected to run right through them, you can't tell that to this Cleveland team, at least not right now. They are running high on adrenaline after this historic win. They believe they can beat anybody, especially with Spida playing this well.
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