Tonight, Donovan Mitchell turned in one of his best performances in a Cleveland Cavaliers uniform, all because an opponent on NBA 2K told him he was “exhausted” just hours before the game.
“This guy pissed me off today,” Mitchell said after the game. “I was playing 2K for about two hours… and he just told me he was done. He called me a bunch of things. He said he hadn’t seen anything notable from me in a minute. I just told him, we’ll see… this game was for that kid… or grown man.”
NBA players are highly competitive athletes. It doesn’t take much for them to find motivation, especially when anger-fueled inspiration can be found anywhere on the Internet. Someone calling you right before a game is more than enough motivation for someone like Mitchell.
Mitchell certainly proved his point. He scored 46 points on 15-for-21 shooting, throwing in a handful of highlights to appease his online troll. He did it all while making it look easy.
The Cavaliers, led by Mitchell, cruised to a 132-121 victory over the 76ers. Mitchell was a key part of this, picking apart Philadelphia’s defense and leaving them without solutions. But Mitchell wasn’t the only Cavalier to have it going. The team as a whole played its best game of the young season.
Mitchell’s big game came on a night when the Cavs reintroduced their 2009 branding. The logo and retro color scheme have long been a fan favorite. The franchise went for nostalgia and everyone seemed to love it.
“This was really cool to me, the intro song ‘My Time’ with Fab, I heard it before the game when I was a kid,” Mitchell said. “Overall, tonight was really great… I hope we stay on course, but we’ll see.”
The Cavs only plan to replicate their 2009 record for a few games this season. Although I don’t know if anyone would complain if they brought him back full time in the near future.