The Cavaliers missed a chance to clinch the best record in the East on Sunday night, but they’re relieved that Donovan Mitchell‘s left ankle injury wasn’t as bad as it first appeared to be, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
Mitchell turned the ankle early in the third quarter of a loss to Sacramento when he stepped on the back on Keon Ellis‘s foot. He fell to the court in obvious pain, but was eventually able to walk to the locker room without help. After having it examined, he returned with 3:01 left in the quarter and played the rest of the game.
“I wanted to get the No. 1 seed and then go from there,” Mitchell told reporters in explaining his decision to resume playing. “If I’m able to go, I’m gonna go. Obviously, a little hobbled after the first adrenaline rush … but I’m trying to win, trying to help my team win in any way possible.”
Vardon adds that Mitchell was limping in the locker room after the game and may have to miss Tuesday’s contest at Chicago. The Cavaliers will play Thursday at Indiana and Friday at New York before returning home Sunday to face the Pacers again. They need just one win or one Boston loss to wrap up the No. 1 seed, so there’s little urgency to get Mitchell back in the lineup until he’s fully healed.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson admits he feared the worst when he saw his star player writhing on the court, Vardon states. His message to Mitchell was to make certain he wasn’t taking an unnecessary risk by returning.
“‘If it’s even five percent where you’re a little weak or it’s bothering you, you just got to tell me,” he told Mitchell. We gotta get you out, we’ve got multiple games to try and close this thing, but we don’t have to do it tonight.’ He said he was fine, felt fine. I look at it as a positive. Imagine his ankle is bad, he’s out for a couple of weeks, that could easily happen. So I am looking at it like a positive, man. He came back, finished playing the whole fourth quarter, so that might be the most positive thing of the night.”
Also Sunday, the Cavs welcomed back sixth man Ty Jerome, who had missed the previous five games with soreness in his left knee. Jerome contributed 20 points in 23 minutes, including 10 in the fourth quarter when Cleveland erased a 12-point deficit.
Jerome said he sat out to “let (his knee) calm down a little bit, let the swelling go down,” but he never lost confidence that he could return before the end of the regular season.