Down 2-0, Donovan Mitchell has to rally his Cavaliers against the team he once worshiped

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NEW YORK – This is a dream opportunity that was far-fetched as a kid, now possible as an adult. He has a chance to lead his team to the NBA Finals, by going through this fabled building specifically, Madison Square Garden, and it will be his crowning achievement to date should it happen. 

Except this isn’t about Jalen Brunson, or anyone with the New York Knicks. This is about a player who in a perfect Gotham world would be repping the Knicks and teammates with Brunson and together serving notice from Manhattan through Oklahoma City and all the way to San Antonio. 

The basketball Gods, however, had different homecoming plans for Donovan Mitchell, born and raised in the New York City suburbs and schooled on basketball in Harlem. If he wants to reach the Finals, he’ll need to plow through the local team he once worshiped, not escort them. 

And at this point, he’ll need nothing short of big nightly performances in this Eastern Conference Finals where he and the Cleveland Cavaliers, after a 109-93 loss Thursday, are suddenly down 2-0 and searching for solutions in this best-of-seven. 

The Cavs came to New York to open the series and couldn’t find their composure in Game 1, then their shots in Game 2. And now there’s a concern that something else is just as painful — Mitchell’s ankle. 

He twisted it last series against Detroit, then had a relapse Tuesday in the fourth quarter of Game 1. At best, it’s not 100%. At worst, Mitchell, who appeared stiff, will hop-scotch through Saturday’s crucial Game 3 (8 ET, ABC) and beyond. 

His coach, Kenny Atkinson, said Mitchell was trying “to work through it.” 

Mitchell dismissed any issue and with a smirk repeated: “I’m great. I’m great. I’m great.” 

Feeling great and looking great are often opposed to each other. That’s where Mitchell and the Cavs find themselves. The Knicks went on an 18-0 third-quarter run to rip away for good from a tied Game 2. Mitchell was on the bench at the time, wrestling with three fouls and a throbbing ankle. Atkinson had to hustle him back into the game, sooner than he wanted. 

He labored through 39 minutes, scored 26 points, was the best player on his team, all in vain. 

“We had great looks,” he said, “just couldn’t make shots. We did a lot of positive things. Our process is right; sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way and you don’t make shots.” 

More than anything, Mitchell didn’t have enough Game 2 support, not like Brunson, who was one of five Knicks in double-figure scoring. The Knicks have won nine straight playoff games now. 

Once upon a time, Mitchell was targeted to be by Brunson’s side in New York, a pair of dangerous playmakers to rival Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in Boston. 

There was always chatter about the romantic idea of Mitchell coming home, much like Carmelo Anthony (Brooklyn-born, though raised in Baltimore) did over a decade ago. And that kind of talk in this championship-desperate town, which hasn’t littered Broadway with blue-and-orange confetti in over 50 years, tends to mushroom and quicken pulses. 

Each side had a chance to make this happen. 

Neither side wanted each other badly enough. That’s just the bold and cold basketball truth. 

For the Knicks, getting Mitchell meant surrendering more assets than they thought he was worth in four years ago when the Utah Jazz slapped a for-sale price on him. 

For Mitchell, who could’ve allowed his contract to run out and entered free agency once being traded to Cleveland, joining the Knicks then meant he’d have to sacrifice, what else, money, and millions of it. 

So the answer, despite all the pillow talk between the two sides, was a non-negotiable no. 

The summer of 2022, when Mitchell was on the move from Utah, was a transformational one for the Knicks. They had missed the playoffs eight times in the previous nine years. They went through a stretch of eight head coaches, including interims, in eight years. The franchise was shook and searched for a savior. Make that two. 

One was destined to be a Knick. Brunson left the Dallas Mavericks to join his father, Rick, a Knicks assistant coach in perhaps the least-surprising free-agent decision in league history. 

Then the Knicks set their sights on Mitchell, except there was another team more desperate and upped the bidding. The Cavs were adrift after LeBron James left in 2018; they missed the playoffs the next four years and needed a centerpiece. 

Utah wanted two young starters — RJ Barrett and Quentin Grimes were the names tossed around — and three first-round picks from the Knicks, who stalled. 

Utah wanted Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, three first rounders and two swaps from Cleveland. The Cavs swallowed hard and delivered. 

Strangely enough, the Knicks a few years later sent five first-round picks and a swap to Brooklyn for Mikal Bridges, a less-accomplished player. 

Anyway, the Knicks became winners quickly with Brunson, who was better than expected, a second-round pick with the body of an accountant but the cold blood of a thief. 

There was one more chance at a marriage: Mitchell could’ve allowed his contract to expire in the summer of 2025 and joined the Knicks then, but in 2024 signed a three-year, $150 million extension with the Cavs instead and that was that. 

Mitchell is now trying to reach the Finals for the first time with 36-year-old James Harden as his wingman. Meanwhile, Brunson has Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby and a batch of rotational players who fit his skills. 

Would Brunson and Mitchell be a good fit together? Neither are instinctive ball-sharers but Brunson showed his passing skills Thursday with 14 assists. When the goal is a championship, star players tend, more often than not, to make it work. 

There was a telling moment between the two almost-teammates with four minutes left in Game 2, the Knicks up 13 points. Mitchell was closely guarding Brunson and turned aggressive, evidently hoping to make a play that might trigger the same improbable rally the Knicks executed two nights earlier when they erased a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit. 

Instead, all Mitchell did was earn his fifth foul, and moments later, his second defeat in this series. 

It must be stressed that the Cavs were wobbly twice before in this postseason, when they were forced into a Game 7 against Toronto in the first round, then fell behind 2-0 to the top-seeded Pistons in the semis and needed another Game 7 win. 

“Through these moments you keep trusting what you’ve been doing,” Mitchell said. “I like everything we’re doing. I’m not sitting here scrambling and trying to figure things out. It’s 2-0. They did their job. They protected home court. That simple. This isn’t our first time facing adversity … we’re ready to go for Game 3.” 

“I’m happy because we didn’t let the Game 1 (collapse) affect our mental.” 

Truth be told, Mitchell is now dreaming like the kid from the New York suburbs all over again, the kid whose mom drove him to Harlem on weekends to seek the top competition in AAU, a strategy that paid off. 

That teenaged Donovan Mitchell wanted to one day play in the Garden, home of the Knicks. 

This adult Donovan Mitchell wants that, too — for this series to return to the Garden for a Game 5. 

“It’s really as simple as this,” said Mitchell. “We have to protect home court.” 

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at spowell@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.