Donovan Mitchell Went Absolutely Nuclear And Became Just The 7th Player Ever To Score 70 Points In An NBA Game

Michael Reaves. Getty Images.

First and foremost, I think all of our prayers are with Damar Hamlin and his family while we all wait for further news on his horrific injury during MNF. Really hoping for the best in what is one of the scariest situations I can honestly ever remember. Everything else sort of feels insignificant at the moment.

That's why this blog feels a little awkward to even write. While pretty much everyone was watching football and the terrifying situation unfold in real time, there were also other sports going on. It felt weird to watch or talk about anything else, let alone celebrate something, given what happened. It was a reminder that these are all just fake games that don't truly matter in the grand scheme of things. Life matters.  

A few days ago we were blessed with Luka's 60/20/10 performance, which was one of the craziest outings the NBA has ever seen. In fact, it had never happened before. Ever. On Monday night, the history came via Donovan Mitchell. No, he didn't put up 60/20/10, but he seemed to do alright

I mean HOLY SHIT. Not to be dramatic, but this was one of the best performances I've ever seen, and I was in the building when Devin Booker got his 70. That one was fake as hell, the Suns were getting crushed and he hunted for it. Plus Avery Bradley didn't play in that game so it basically doesn't count. 

This game from Donovan Mitchell? Very different. Legit as hell. The Cavs looked dead for the majority of the night, and after getting down big they made a great push to make it close late but you wondered if they would eventually run out of gas. The answer of course was no. You want heroics? First, it was hitting massive threes late to get over 60. Then in the final moments when the Cavs needed a prayer, Donovan was there once again

I mentioned Luka's 60/20/10…this look familiar to you?

Come on, that's a little spooky no? Two legendary performances like these where both guys miss a FT perfectly and then score the putback bucket as time expires? Come on. 

At their lowest, the Cavs were down 21 points in this game. Once this thing got to OT, there was no way the Cavs weren't going to finish them off. At that point, Mitchell had 58 points, which is fairly ridiculous on its own. You could have called things right there and 58/7/11 is very impressive. In the OT, things got nuts. Mitchell didn't miss a shot 4-4 (3-3) and didn't miss a FT 2-2, and the next thing you knew we had NBA history. 71 points are so many goddamn points. Nearly half of the Cavs total (145) I'm not sure how many more times you're going to see a player accomplish something like that. Mitchell played all 24 minutes of the second half and then all 5 minutes of the OT. That's bananas, but no coach in their right might would take him out of this game no matter how tired he was. Imagine if J.B Bickerstaff pulled him before he could get 70+? That would have been a disaster.

Quick question, do you think the Cavs give a shit about the cost of trading for Donovan Mitchell? My guess is no chance. Not only has the fit been seamless from the jump, but Mitchell is also even better than before and he was already pretty damn good. It's helped the Cavs live around the top 4 in the East and they look as formidable as anyone with Mitchell playing at this level. They didn't even have Darius Garland OR Evan Mobley in this game! 

In the end, it was another night where we were able to witness history. This shit seems to be happening every night in the NBA so far this season, which just goes to show how ridiculous the talent is. You combine that with the updated game and something tells me we're going to have a few more historic nights in our future.