Donovan Mitchell’s 71-point night against the Bulls still stands as one of the wildest scoring explosions in recent memory, and the Cavaliers guard recently added an unexpected wrinkle to the story: he says a few drinks the night before helped set the stage.
On a recent episode of the “Cousins” podcast with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, Mitchell looked back on the Jan. 2, 2023 game in which Cleveland beat Chicago 145-134 in overtime. He said the circumstances around New Year’s, plus the way the game started, left him feeling drained before he caught fire.
“We played them [Bulls] on New Year’s Eve. Then we had New Year’s in Cleveland.
Then we played the next day,” Mitchell began. “Now I will say this.
I’ve never drunk before a game in my life. It was New Year’s.
So I did have a drink, a few drinks the night before the game. Never done that in my career.
Haven’t done it since. So I tell people like that was probably what, you know, allowed me to have the night I had.”
The comment drew laughs from Carter and McGrady, but Mitchell kept going, describing just how rough the night felt early on.
“But it was crazy because I was like, ‘Man, like I’m gonna be-,’ and I was exhausted. I’m tired.
My body is already tired, whatever. I’m going through that rough stretch, 16 at the half.
We’re getting down 20. I’m like, ‘F-k, like, all right.’
And then we get to the second half, and my thing was, ‘Let’s just make it close.'”
Mitchell said his mindset was simply to keep Cleveland within reach and see where that took him.
“I’m gonna be a little more aggressive. Yeah.
But like, let’s just get the game close within maybe 10 in the fourth quarter. And then see what happens,” he stated.
“Next thing you know, the first shot starts going in; now I’m able to get to the rim. Now, I’m scoring; now the shots that I’ve been missing for the past week are starting to fall, so I’m like, ‘Okay.'”
From there, the avalanche started. Mitchell said the rhythm kept building as his teammates fed off it.
“Next thing you know, I’m rolling, and now my teammates are just like, ‘Here,’ and we’re just rolling, and we’re going. Next thing you know, you look up, I’m like, ‘Damn, I’m at 40, all right, cool,’ but we just kept going.”
Mitchell finished with 16 points at the half, which meant the rest of the game had to become a full-scale scoring chase. He admitted free throws helped him pile up points, but the numbers still read like something out of a video game.
He put up 24 points in the third quarter on 6-9 shooting from the field and went 12-12 at the line. In the fourth, he added 18 more points on 7-11 shooting while making 3-6 free throws. Then in overtime, he closed the door with 13 points on perfect shooting: 4-4 from the field, 3-3 from three, and 2-2 from the line.
For Mitchell, the performance was a defining moment of the 2022-23 season and a major milestone in his career. Even so, he said it still wasn’t his best game. The Cavaliers will be hoping their star has plenty more nights like that as they push toward another title run.
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