'I've never seen a guy like him' – Cavs coach Atkinson in awe of Mitchell

Kenny Atkinson has "never seen a guy" like Donovan Mitchell, who inspired the Cleveland Cavaliers to victory over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

Mitchell finished with 35 points, seven rebounds and three assists and the Cavs overturned a 14-point deficit in the second half to win 115-111.

Of Mitchell's 35 points, 30 came in the second half, while 20 came in the fourth quarter, in which he went six-for-six from the field.

"That's Donovan's persona," Cavs coach Atkinson said. "It's amazing, I've never seen a guy [like him].

"He never gets down. You'd think guys would kick the chair or get frustrated. He has a great demeanour about him and never gets too down or too high.

"He's much better than the coaches in terms of that.

"He's just like, 'Everybody calm down, it's going to be all right.' And I think that really helps you bounce back from a poor first half like that."

Asked when he started to realise he was taking the game under his spell, Mitchell said: "In the third. I felt it then, especially - and I'm going to be selfish when I say this - when [Jayson Tatum] hit a shot over me.

"I was like, 'He's starting to get it going, they're starting to get confidence, they're starting to build, we're turning it over.' In the third, I was just waiting, just trying to figure out where to go.

"And then, when I came back in the fourth: 'All right, give me the ball. It's time to go.' And I was just telling somebody, 'Shots may not fall. I may go 0-for-6.' But you know what? You have to find a way.

"'I'm going to be aggressive right here. Get to my spots and if we go out, we'll go like this.' And that's what tonight was."

Goodnight, CLE. #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/Eojj5TilNI

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 2, 2024

Cleveland had lost three of their last five games prior to the clash with the Celtics, and Mitchell pointed to the win as an important sign that they can return to the kind of form they displayed during their 15-0 start to the season.

"I think that just speaks to the growth of our group," Mitchell said.

"I think you go back to when I first got here, obviously we're younger, we're not as familiar with each other, [and we'd] kind of fold in those situations.

"You're just seeing the growth, and that's the biggest thing I feel like is for us just continuing to build.

"If we continue to grow and continue to learn from these different things, that's really what it's about. That's what tonight was. We could have easily been like, 'All right, turning the ball over, different things, not getting stops, offense kind of bogged down.' But who were we when we hit adversity?

"And that's what I've been saying. It's great to learn through these wins, but when we face adversity, who are we going to be? And that's what you're continuously seeing from this group. We've been trying games and different things, and so I'm proud of the way we fought."