Donovan Mitchell was on a mission Monday night. And on Monday afternoon as well.
Kyrie Irving said he knew Mitchell was “locked in” going into Cleveland’s game with the Bulls, where Mitchell broke Irving’s franchise scoring record, because of a different game: Call of Duty.
Normally, Mitchell takes a nap after shootaround in order to rest up for the game, but he got caught up in the intensity of playing Call of Duty with Irving and the Brooklyn Nets‘ Royce O’Neale.
Mitchell claims Irving told him to stop playing and get some sleep, but apparently Spida was too locked in.
Cleveland’s Kevin Love called it “the best performance I’ve ever seen,” which included 55-point and 57-point efforts by Irving, plus four seasons of LeBron James’ brilliance.
He meant Mitchell’s 71 points, not his efforts on behalf of the KorTac Group outside of Al Mazrah.
Mitchell plays Call of Duty or MLB The Show after each shootaround, but usually he isn’t so caught up in it that he messes up his pregame routine. Maybe Mitchell should play tired more often.
“I didn’t sleep. I didn’t get no rest,” Mitchell told reporters outside the locker room. “I was pissed. But after the way I had been playing, I just came to the arena telling myself to play loose.”
Mitchell almost played as if he was advancing through video game levels, starting slow with just five first-quarter points, then 11 in the second, and exploding for 24 in the third quarter.
He even had 13 points in overtime, or as the gamers would call it, the bonus round. And missing your own free throw on purpose feels like a move that should only work on an XBox.
Of course, the NBA ruled that the officials missed Mitchell committing a lane violation, but they don’t call those in NBA2K either.
Despite what the report says, the only call that Mitchell cares about is Call of Duty.
