Donovan Mitchell felt that the officiating during tonight’s Game 6 against the Orlando Magic just wasn’t up to the mark. The combo guard believed that the difference in free throw attempts for both teams played a huge role in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 96-103 defeat. However, as he got his point across in the postgame press conference he refused to take one thing away from Paolo Banchero and Co.
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Donovan Mitchell had every intention to complain about the free throw disparity when he entered the interview. However, he made sure that he didn’t come off as a sore loser by stating that it was not an ‘excuse’ to justify their loss. So, the 27-year-old began his press conference by wholesomely lauding the Orlando Magic for being the better team tonight. The following is what he said, per Brett James.
“I wanna preface this by wanting to give credit to Orlando. This is not an excuse… To have 66 points in the paint and then have only 10 free throws, it’s crazy. Credit to Orlando, they beat us,” Mitchell said.
That said, even though the 5-time All-Star didn’t want to, he did come off as slightly grumpy when indirectly complaining about the bias in officiating. However, Mitchell may have a point. The Cavaliers recorded 28 more points (66-38) in the paint than the Magic, however, it was the latter who received 16 more free throw attempts, per NBA.com.
So, Mitchell’s rants do seem more than a tad justified. While the Magic did end up winning the ball game, they weren’t necessarily better than the Cavs in all the major departments. The Ohio side recorded more made field goals on significantly better efficiency and were even far superior on the defensive end as they lodged 8 more ‘stocks’ (steals & blocks).
Donovan Mitchell did give it his best effort to wrap the series 4-2. Playing 41:34 minutes in the encounter, the highflyer recorded a very impressive 50 points. Additionally, the 2023 All-NBA player also carried the team’s offensive load in the final period, scoring all of their 18 points.
Suffice it to say, despite the loss, the 6ft 3” star had a historic night, recording just his 3rd 50-point game in the playoffs. Impressively, he only trails Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan in the same list.
‘Spida’s Game 6 50-point performance will only fuel the rumors of him wanting to part ways with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the upcoming offseason. Over the past few months, there has been a lot of chatter regarding Don potentially not being satisfied with the help he’s received from his teammate. Tonight’s performance did seem like he could’ve been frustrated, losing the duel despite going on a scoring rampage.
The Cavs will now have another chance to close the series as the two teams head back to the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse [Cleaveland] for Game 7 to be played on Sunday. Having their home crowd’s support, J.B. Bickerstaff’s boys will be projected to win and advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinal. But of course, anything can happen in the NBA Playoffs.
