Donovan Mitchell diary: ‘You see that there’s an opportunity, right?’

CLEVELAND — Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers were on the brink of first-round playoff elimination before knocking off the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 on Sunday night.

The Cavaliers lost all three games in Toronto, including a wild defeat in Game 6 in which Toronto native RJ Barrett made a memorable 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left in overtime. It also took the unexpected heroics of Cavs center Jarrett Allen on both ends of the floor in Game 7 to finally put the Raptors away.

Instead of Mitchell kicking himself for what his Cavs didn’t do in the first round, however, he opted to focus on the next foe: the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Detroit Pistons. Detroit had its own drama to overcome in the first round, falling into a 3-1 deficit against the Orlando Magic before winning three consecutive games to take the series.

Mitchell and the Cavaliers face the Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals, beginning with Game 1 tonight in Detroit. The Pistons are led by NBA All-Stars Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, and they are coached by former Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

“You can’t kick yourself for not being able to close it out earlier, because it wasn’t meant to be,” Mitchell said. “You can sit there and get upset about things in the past. Hey, you control what you can control. It happened for a reason. At the end of the day, I feel like we should have got Game 6, and then the ball drops. So, you don’t sit there and be like, ‘Damn, I wish you could have.’ No, we did it and we figured it out in seven, and now we got to go out there on Tuesday and get right to it.

“I bet you [the Pistons] wish they weren’t down 3-1 and had to come back. There’s no sitting here wishing about the past. It’s just about how can we move forward and it’ll be better.”

During the 2025-26 NBA season, Mitchell is exclusively sharing insight into his life on and off the court with the Cavaliers in his monthly diary on Andscape. Draymond Green, Vince Carter, Trae Young, CJ McCollum, Fred VanVleet, De’Aaron Fox, Cade Cunningham, James Wiseman, Josh Jackson, Bradley Beal and, most recently, Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero have participated in previous Andscape diaries.

For his NBA career, Mitchell is averaging 25.1 points, 4.8 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game in 609 regular-season games for the Cavaliers and the Utah Jazz. The former University of Louisville star is also a two-time All-NBA selection and winner of the 2018 NBA dunk contest. The 29-year-old finished the 2025-26 season averaging 27.9 points, 5.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, earning a seventh consecutive All-Star nod. Mitchell and the Cavs made a title push by adding James Harden at the trade deadline.

The Cavaliers finished the regular season with a 52-30 record and the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Mitchell, who averaged 23.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and three assists in the first round against the Raptors, gave himself a satisfactory grade for his play in the first round.

“I could be better. I’d probably say a B-minus, C-plus,” Mitchell said. “And I’m not saying that because I didn’t shoot it as great as I wanted to. I could have done more on the boards. I could have done more defensively. They were denying me and James [defensively] the whole [series]. And credit to [Raptors head coach] Darko [Rajaković] and the group over there. They made it tough.

“But I graded myself on overall performance. How did I impact the game outside of just scoring? I didn’t think I did a great job. I think I did a good job, but I think I could have been better. But guess what? You learn, right? You figure those things out and you can be better. And I will.”

The following is Mitchell’s seventh NBA season diary with Andscape, recorded late Sunday night from Rocket Arena after he scored 22 points in Game 7 in Cleveland.

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I was calm. This was expected. We expected to win the round. I think it took a little longer than anticipated, obviously. But hey, everything you want is really kind of hard. We understand that adversity is part of it. The Raptors are a good team. We had to dig deep as a group and we got through it, and now we got to get ready for a game in about two days.

As I was driving to the arena [Sunday for Game 7], I was really light. I had a good feeling about the game. Even when we were down, there was no wavering in belief. We were going to be OK. We just had to settle in. We just have a calm and collected group of guys who were ready and locked in. I had no doubt that we were going to win [Sunday]. It was just a matter of how, and go from there. I believe in everyone in this locker room, believed in yourself and go from there.

I don’t think anything had to be said [when the game was tied at halftime]. We went over our [defensive] coverages. But we closed the half the right way, which is what [Cavaliers guard] Sam Merrill kind of brought up. “Finishing the half.” We knew we were in good shape. We were at 0-0 after all the mistakes, the bad shooting, it was 0-0. So, from there it was a new ballgame.

We came out the third quarter and set the tone. [The Raptors] made a run to kind of close it back, but we still persevered. That is why you work for home-court [advantage]. The crowd was on our side. We have an understanding as a group of what those moments are.

Jarrett Allen was phenomenal. For him, this is his first Game 7, and to see him just at that level, blocking shots, running the floor, doing everything with [Cavaliers forward] Evan [Mobley] in foul trouble, right? He’s just finding a way to do whatever is necessary. That’s what you want out of him. He’s a humble dude. He gets a bad rap from social media because of one of his quotes [in 2023, when he said,”The lights were brighter than expected” after being eliminated from the playoffs]. To see him consistently be there for us in all these times, I’m very grateful for that guy. There are not a lot of bigs — and I played with two of them [Allen and Mobley], which is phenomenal — that are selfless, but also hungry and want to do anything it takes to win.

You went to war for seven games. You breathe, but not like, “Thank God it’s over.” It’s, “Thank God it happened and now we’re moving on.” But we didn’t accomplish anything. It’s not like, “Oh, we did it.” You’re grateful that it happened and the way that it happened and now it’s like, “OK, this is the next test,” and go from there.

I watched a little bit of [the Pistons’ Game 7 win]. It was obviously a Game 7, but they took care of business at home. They’re a tough team. They got a guy in Cade Cunningham who is elite. Jalen Duren is elite. Their group is physical. They’re tough-minded, and they’ve been phenomenal all season. So, for us it is going to be another tall task, but we got to go out there and handle business.

Whenever you match up with a guy who’s an All-NBA guy in Cade, it’s always going to be a big matchup. He’s taken Detroit to a place they haven’t seen since [former Pistons stars] Rip Hamilton and Chauncey [Billups] and those guys were over there. So, credit to him. He’s a phenomenal player, a hell of a talent, a leader. You want these challenges, right? I’m sure he feels the same way. So, it’s one of those things, “Hey, we got to get out there and compete.” You want to play against the best, and he’s one of the best guys in this league. And I got a lot of respect for him and I’m excited to get going.

Obviously, J.B. was here for two of my years. You see what he’s doing. No shock, no surprise what he’s done in Detroit. He’s a guy that gets guys to play hard, understand their roles and what they do, and you see it’s paying off. So, this is going to be another tall task with the group. But credit to him, credit to that group over there. They’ve done a phenomenal job all year. They’ve given Detroit new life. There’s a lot of respect both ways, and I’m definitely excited to get out there. We got to still win the game. It’ll be great competition. It’s going to be physical. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be loud.

It’s interesting in Detroit. Now the city recognizes what they have, and I think you’re starting to see it get loud. I’ve never been there for a playoff game. I hope the Cavs’ fans travel as well. They typically do. But from watching, it seems like it’s very loud. They get crazy. So, I’m excited to see what that’s about for sure.

My mentality doesn’t change. Just be aggressive and impact winning. It’s not just about scoring. I’ve had big performances scoring-wise, but it’s just how do we impact winning? How are we making winning plays? The series would be a little bit different than the one I just had. I will be guarded a little different. Maybe it’s the same. Maybe it’s not. We’ll see. But it’s how do we impact winning? By doing the little things.

And obviously, you’ve had success, they’ve had success. It’s just like, “Hey, we’re 2-2 on the [season].” So just trying to find ways to attack and be aggressive and make plays.

The biggest thing in getting my body ready is right when I leave here [Sunday night] to get some treatment and just nonstop. Fortunately, it’s a 20-minute flight, so it’s not too much airtime. And just get your mind right, get your mental right as much as it is physical.

The first round has been wild, and the coolest part about it is it could be anybody. Everybody sees on both sides, West and East, you see that there’s an opportunity, right? To see the level of grit from Philly. I don’t think anybody had them beating Boston, right? Orlando taking these guys [Pistons] to seven. I don’t think anybody had Orlando taking them to seven or Toronto taking us seven, right? New York against Atlanta. Denver with Minnesota. There’s just so many different teams. Obviously San Antonio did their thing, but Portland played well. So even Houston. You look all across the spectrum, it’s just a lot of competitive basketball. And that’s what you want to see. And it’s right there, and we just got to go out there and try to find a way to go get it.

We are a tight-knit group who plays hard and has experience. The biggest thing is we got a bunch of guys who are ready to go. It starts with me and James and Ev. We got a bunch of guys that have a bunch of talent. But [NBA fans] don’t believe in us? Cool. It don’t matter to us. We believe in each other and go from there. I know Cavs fans got our back, and that’s really all we need.

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