Donovan Mitchell (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The Cleveland Cavaliers are finding it hard to chase the Boston Celtics in the second round of the playoff series despite being led by a talented guard like Donovan Mitchell. After tasting success in Game 2 against the top-seeded Eastern team, the Cavs fell through in Game 3. However, the night didn’t end as badly for the All-Star guard, who replicated his previous playoff record.

Mitchell scored 180+ points while maintaining his shooting percentage above 20 from the 3-point range and above 50 from the floor in his last five playoff games against the Celtics (3 games) and Orlando Magic (2 games). He is the only player to achieve this feat twice, as no other player in the league has done it even once.

The 27-year-old had previously recorded it in the first five games of the 2020 round-one playoffs against the Denver Nuggets when he represented the Utah Jazz.

On Saturday, Mitchell set the court on fire at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse with his marvelous shooting skills, converting 12-of-22 shots from the floor into baskets along with 7 shots from the deep and two free throws. He finished the night with a joint game-high 33 points but didn’t get much offensive support from his Cleveland teammates, which cost them a 93-106 loss. However, Mitchell seems to know the exact issue with the franchise that needs to be fixed to get back on level terms.

Donovan Mitchell Reflects on Game 3 Loss

The Celtics had taken an early lead since the opening quarter and kept increasing the gap, which became harder for the Cavs to cover as the damage was already done in the first half.

During the post-game conference, when Donovan Mitchell was asked to lay his input on the game 3 loss, the guard said, “Everyone’s gonna point to the third quarter but I’m going to point to the beginning of the game. … yeah we were right there but they got looks that we didn’t give them in Game 1 and Game 2.”

He believes that the first half played a crucial role in the outcome, so for the upcoming fixtures, if they hold the Cs back in the initial quarters, that would allow the Cavaliers to take the lead in the game. We’ll find out on Monday whether the Cavaliers can work on this strategy to even the 2-1 result.