Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrates after scoring during the second quarter of Game One of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs against the New York Knicks.
Saturday evening, the New York Knicks took care of business whilst on the road and stole home-court advantage away from the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. They went on to win Game 1 of their first-round playoff bout by a final score of 101-97.
Despite a high-end performance by star guard Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs were unable to hold onto their late-game lead attained at around the two-minute mark left in regulation and, in turn, find themselves gearing up for Tuesday’s Game 2 down 1-0 in this best-of-seven series.
While a loss is always tough to endure, during his post-game media session Mitchell noted that this game against the Knicks could be viewed as somewhat of a learning experience for his rather inexperienced Cleveland squad.
“Look at this game alone, from start to finish we understood what it took…there are things we can clean up and be better at,” Mitchell said. “At the end of the day, I think, you know, it sucks to lose the first game at home and lose home court, but I think there’s a lot of teaching moments in this…We’ll be better. We’ll fix it. We’ll watch the film. We’ve got two days to get right and we got to protect home court.”
Despite the loss, Donovan Mitchell was absolutely electric for the Cavaliers, as he would finish the night with a game-high 38 points to go along with 8 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and a block while shooting 46.7% from the field and 37.5% from distance.
