{"id":1941022,"date":"2026-05-18T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T07:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1941022"},"modified":"2026-05-18T10:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T07:00:25","slug":"donovan-mitchell-finally-breaks-through-embraces-his-trip-to-a-conference-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1941022","title":{"rendered":"Donovan Mitchell finally breaks through, embraces his trip to a conference finals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DETROIT \u2014 As the final minute ticked off the clock in a game that had long since been decided, Donovan Mitchell went down the line shaking the hands of all of his teammates. He stopped to hug Kenny Atkinson, and he saved his largest embrace for top assistant Johnnie Bryant.<\/p>\n

Those hugs, particularly with Bryant, were nine years in the making. Finally, finally, Mitchell can breathe again.<\/p>\n

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No one is running from how big this moment is for Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs put aside an erratic, inconsistent postseason long enough to produce their best performance of the season at the most important time. Their 125-94 victory<\/a> in Game 7 of the conference semifinals over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday finally allowed Mitchell to claim his seat in a long-coveted conference final.<\/p>\n

The Cavs hadn\u2019t reached a conference final without LeBron James since 1992. Mitchell has never been there, so it would be disingenuous to look past the impact of this night. It meant so much to an organization that has been haunted by James\u2019 ghost and to Mitchell, who has been haunted by his own failures. No longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cA breath of fresh air,\u201d Mitchell acknowledged after the game. \u201cIt\u2019s been almost a decade and I\u2019m running into the same issue. I, personally, and as a team, we can breathe a little bit \u2026 but we can only breathe for about 12 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

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There is still work to be done, and soon, but Mitchell and this franchise earned a night to celebrate their accomplishments. Had the Cavs lost to the Pistons and their former coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, thousands of words would\u2019ve been published across the country this week about what a disappointment the Cavs \u2014 and Mitchell \u2014 have been. There would be questions about Mitchell\u2019s future in Cleveland and Atkinson\u2019s, too.<\/p>\n

There are still extensions and new contracts to sort through and fairly major organizational decisions to make this summer, but they\u2019re a lot easier to make through the lens of a conference finals appearance \u2014 regardless of how it ends \u2014 as opposed to what it would\u2019ve looked like following another second-round exit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the next step for us,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n

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\"Donovan<\/p>\n
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\n Donovan Mitchell and coach Kenny Atkinson embrace as Mitchell leaves the court late in Game 7. (Gregory Shamus \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

When the Cavs were stunned in the second round last year by the Indiana Pacers following a 64-win regular season, Mitchell seemed angry and bitter. It\u2019s reasonable, obviously, to be upset after such a devastating upset. But this was different. The frustration of failing at the same point every year was beginning to present itself, as Mitchell uncharacteristically lashed out.<\/p>\n

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\u201cY\u2019all gonna write us the f\u2014 off, man,\u201d he said then. \u201cGetting beat down like this and y\u2019all are gonna write some s\u2014 about us, man. And that\u2019s gonna be fuel. Fuel for everybody. Y\u2019all gonna say a lot of s\u2014. Y\u2019all are. And that\u2019s what it takes. I\u2019ve been here, so I understand. We understand. And we just gotta use it for fuel for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The criticisms of the past were as valid as the Cavs\u2019 emphatic response in Game 7. This playoff run has been harder than it should have been at times, needing seven games to eliminate both the Pistons and the Toronto Raptors, but the Cavs demonstrated a grit and toughness in the process that was previously lacking across the organization.<\/p>\n

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Atkinson, like Mitchell, obsessed over the loss to the Pacers last year, poring over every possession of the series. He spent most of his summer trying to unravel how a team as talented as the Cavaliers was so thoroughly outplayed by Indiana. He can finally put the film away. It doesn\u2019t matter now.<\/p>\n

Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley met the moment Sunday, as did James Harden. If the Cavs team that arrived at Little Caesars Arena for Game 7 can find its way to Madison Square Garden \u2014 where the New York Knicks await Tuesday night in Game 1 of the conference finals \u2014 the Cavs are absolutely powerful enough to represent the East in the NBA Finals. The question with this team has never been about talent. It\u2019s been about focus and attention and playing with consistent force and effort.<\/p>\n

Mitchell rose to the challenge with 26 points, six rebounds and eight assists on Sunday. This was Mitchell\u2019s moment. As I wrote before the game<\/a>, there were no more excuses. The Cavs were healthy and had provided him with all the help he needed. It was time for him to perform. He did.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe had complete control of the game,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cHe kept this thing together this year when things weren\u2019t going great. He was the beacon, the light. His leadership carried us on the court. And then when things were going great, he was the person everyone looked to.\u201d<\/p>\n

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They\u2019re still looking to him now as Mitchell (and Atkinson) return home for a compelling conference final. Atkinson grew up on Long Island and still has plenty of family there. Mitchell grew up in the region and thought he was going to the Knicks before the Cavs swooped in to acquire him in 2022.<\/p>\n

He has been the steadying force here ever since, in good times and bad. There have been plenty of both. This was his reward, these relieving embraces with Atkinson and with Bryant, who was with him in Utah and now in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Mitchell is going home for his first trip to the Eastern Conference finals. It\u2019s what makes sports so beautiful. He\u2019s going back to a place he knows well. In a setting where he\u2019s never been.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 As the final minute ticked off the clock in a game that had long since been decided, Donovan Mitchell went down the line shaking the hands of all of his teammates. He stopped to hug Kenny Atkinson, and he saved his largest embrace for top assistant Johnnie Bryant. Those hugs, particularly with Bryant, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1941022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1941022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1941022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1941022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1941022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}