Donovan Mitchell is now just one of only three NBA players to score three straight 30-plus point games at the start of the season.
Mitchell racked up 37 points against the Washington Wizards Sunday in a 117-107 overtime win.
The former Utah Jazz guard had 31 points in the season opener and 30 points against the Bulls before Sunday’s offensive explosion.
“The ability of my teammates to create easy shots for me, especially the bigs… those guys are getting me open to attack,” said Mitchell after the game.
The Cavs were up by seven going into the fourth quarter, in which Mitchell scored just 4 points and had 3 turnovers.
“To lose the ball – I’m more poised than that. That shouldn’t happen,” Mitchell said. “We should have been home an hour ago. That’s where my head is at. We’ll take the win, but I promise you for the next day and a half all I’m going to be thinking about is finding ways to execute late game and being the best for my team.”
Mitchell scored 7 points in overtime, and the Cavs are now 2-1.
“I personally didn’t like the second half of the game as a whole for me,” Mitchell said. “The third quarter was OK, but fourth quarter was an absolute disaster in my eyes.”
Regardless, the Cavs won their home opener and looked poised for a winning season.
“Staying focused on the next play and doing it on both ends of the floor, just continue to fight and battle, and that’s what I did, and that’s what we did as a group,” said Mitchell.
Cleveland had five other players score in double figures, including Jarrett Allen with 15 points and 14 rebounds and Cedi Osman with 16 points.
“We’re feeding off each other, and you know we’re trying to push each other because we’re coming off the back-to-back,” said Osman. “We still got the win, and I’m really happy and proud of this team.”
The Cavs face off against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.