Cavs Top 3: Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert match LeBron James and Kyrie Irving

The Cleveland Cavaliers saw Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert do something only LeBron James and Kyrie Irving have done.

The Cleveland Cavaliers road into Boston just like the British did and left as fast as Israel Bissell, taking down the Celtics in overtime, 132-123. The Cavs had a rough go of it for most of the first three quarters, falling back double-digit points and having a rough shooting night from behind the arc. Luckily Caris LeVert had his best game ever, and he and Donovan Mitchell matched LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as the only pair of Cavs teammates to drop 40+ points together in the same game.

Irving and James dropped 40+ in the 2016 NBA Finals and helped propelled the Cavs to an NBA finals title. LeVert and Mitchell didn’t propel the Cavs to an NBA title (yet), but their ability to lead the Cavs to a comeback win over the Celtics was impressive nonetheless.

It should be noted that the two men shot a combined 47 times, and while Mitchell shooting 20+ shots in a game is expected, the Cavs should probably not expect this out of LeVert.

Hardly anyone else got shots off,  with Cedi Osman, Dean Wade, Jarrett Allen, and Kevin Love taking just 25 shots combined, one less than Mitchell. It’s great the Cavs won, and the performances of LeVert and Mitchell aren’t being downplayed, they were phenomenal. The Cavs can’t get into the trappings, however, of having just two guys take a majority of the shots. This team thrives on ball movement.

It’s important to remember that.

The Cleveland Cavalierse didn’t see much from Wade, Allen, and Love but Osman did make a mark, and it wasn’t a great one. He went just 1-6 from the floor, and 1-5 from three. We’ve seen that when Osman is cooking, it starts with getting him cutting to the rim. So if Osman is going to continue producing, he has got to do more cutting to the rim, and less standing around waiting to shoot.

Evan Mobley was impressive offensively but he’s looked off defensively. Not just against the Celtics, but all year. Hopefully, this is just a sophomore slump of sorts.

Cleveland Cavaliers top 3 vs. the Boston Celtics

1 Point – Jarrett Allen

It was either Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley and seeing Mobley struggle a bit on defense has been a bit disappointing. Allen had 12 points and 19 rebounds and had a Box+/- of  +25, while Mobley had +2.

2 Points – Donovan Mitchell

You can toss up either Mitchell or LeVert but I’m going with Mitchell here because he had fewer assists, took more shots, and shot worse from three.

3 Points – Caris LeVert

Both LeVert and Mitchell had 41 points, but LeVert was able to get to 41 points in fewer shots, with a better three-point percentage and passing the ball better. Levert had a team-high seven assists while Mitchell had a game-high of seven turnovers.

Cavs Top 3 Seasonal Standings

1. Donovan Mitchell – 11 Points
2. Cedi Osman & Jarrett Allen – 6 Points
3. Caris LeVert
4. Kevin Love – 2 Points
5. Dean Wade – 2 Points