PHILADELPHIA — It may be hard to believe but Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell entered Wednesday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers, never having recorded a triple-double at any point in his eight years in the NBA. In the fourth quarter of the game, that nearly changed.
Mitchell had notched double-digit points by the fourth quarter. He had recorded double-digit rebounds at that point as well. And at nine assists, Mitchell was one play away from a triple-double.
And Mitchell wanted it.
With just under two minutes to play, the Cavs held a 109-102 lead over Philadelphia. Mitchell grabbed a defensive rebound and took the ball up the court. A spin move in the paint created a wide-open lane to the rim for Mitchell, but as he went up for the shot, he opted to make a play to get that one assist he needed for the triple-double.
Mitchell passed the ball out to Evan Mobley, who wasn't quite expecting the pass. He didn't get a good grab on it and when he made a move with the ball, Sixers' forward Geurschon Yabusele stole it away.
The Cavs fouled and rookie Jared McCain went to the line. He hit both of his free throws to make it a tight 109-104 game with 1:32 left to play.
Mitchell made one play for himself and it backfired, so he opted to focus solely on closing out the game. A stepback three and a driving layup made sure that happened, giving the Cavs their final score of 114-106, improving them to 13-0 on the season.
Despite being a major key to the Cavs win, Mitchell took the time to apologize to fans. Speaking on the FanDuel Sports Network broadcast with sideline reporter Serena Winters, Mitchell admitted to chasing stats and vowed it would never happen like that again.
"Cavs fans, I'm sorry. I should have put the game away earlier. That was a selfish moment, I ain't going to lie. I haven't had [a triple-double] in my career, almost lost the game doing that. That's a selfish move, it won't happen again. I apologize and I apologize to my teammates, I'm sorry y'all," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that he knew it was the wrong move to chase it when he passed the ball out—a move uncharacteristic of his usual game style.
"Play the game the right way. It'll come at some point. But yeah, that won't happen again. That was one of those moments, but it won't happen—we all have those moments, but at the end of the day you put the game away when you needed to. I had to make up for it after that. So glad we got the win," he said.
Mitchell's apology came both in the form of his words and his actions, closing out the game when it mattered most.
And for that, the Cavs can forgive Mitchell's minor "selfish" transgression.
"Well he made up for it with the stepback three, so we'll forgive him for that," head coach Kenny Atkinson said with a smile.
