Donovan Mitchell just had one of the greatest performances in NBA history. And he did it against the Chicago Bulls.
The Cavaliers’ star player put up a historic 71 points in the OT victory on Monday night. He became just the 7th player ever to post 70 or more points in a game, and he also became the first player to reach that mark since Kobe Bryant did it with his legendary 81-point performance in 2006.
Mitchell shot an absurd 22-34 from the field and went 20-25 from the free throw line. He also added 11 assists and 8 rebounds in the Cavs miraculous 21-point comeback.
Arguably Mitchell’s biggest bucket of the night came with 3.0 seconds left when he was able to snatch his own missed free throw and acrobatically lay it in to tie the game at 130. With the Bulls missing the game-winning attempt at the buzzer, Mitchell proceeded to score 13 of the Cavs’ 15 points in OT to lift Cleveland to the 145-135 victory.
I’m not going to lie, I think the officiating in this game is some of the worst I’ve ever seen. But that also doesn’t make it easy for a player to score 71 points. That’s a truly legendary accomplishment, and I have no choice but to tip my hat to Mitchell … as hard as it may be.