Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Donovan Mitchell led from the front as the Cleveland Cavaliers bagged their 60th win of the NBA season with a 127-122 victory over the in-form Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. Cleveland talisman Mitchell finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists in what Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson later described as his best performance of the season.
Sunday’s victory means Cleveland have reached 60 wins in a season for the first time since the 2009-2010 campaign, and for only the third time in franchise history. More significantly, the win leaves Cleveland 4.5 games clear of NBA champions Boston in the race for the No.1 seeding in the Eastern Conference playoffs with just seven regular season fixtures remaining.
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Cleveland coach Atkinson said reaching 60 wins was beyond his expectations at the start of the campaign following a 48-victory season in 2023-2024. “I didn’t expect 60 wins,” Atkinson said. “My internal goal was ‘Can we improve from last year?’ That was kind of where my mind was. But for this team to take it to another level and kind of shatter that says a lot. And we’re not done — we can still add to that. But we’ve got to celebrate this. It’s not the end goal, but we should take a deep breath and celebrate 60 wins. It’s so hard to do in this league. I’m really happy for the guys today.”
Mitchell received offensive support from Jarrett Allen with 25 points, while Evan Mobley added 22 and Darius Garland 19.
But Atkinson reserved special praise for Mitchell, who was immense at both ends of the court for Cleveland, with four steals in addition to his points tally. “He’s at that kind of maturity and mental level where he can manipulate the game how he wants it,” Atkinson said of the 28-year-old six-time NBA All-Star. “I would argue that this was probably his best all-around game all year. He did everything tonight and showed great leadership.”
The defeat left the Clippers in eighth position in the Western Conference, where they are locked in a ferocious dog-fight with the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves for an automatic ticket into the playoffs. The Clippers are on 42-32, just behind Golden State and Minnesota who both won on Sunday. The top six teams in the Western Conference advance to the playoffs while teams ranked from seventh to 10th play a mini-tournament to determine the final two playoff slots.
The Warriors boosted their chances of claiming an automatic berth after thrashing the San Antonio Spurs 148-106 on the road in Texas to remain in sixth place. The Timberwolves meanwhile are in seventh after a stormy 123-104 win over the Detroit Pistons. The game was notable for a brawl in the second quarter which saw seven players and two coaches — including Detroit head coach J.B. Bickerstaff — ejected.
In the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks dominated the Milwaukee Bucks 145-124 to improve to 36-38, with Zaccharie Risacher scoring a game-high 36 points. At Madison Square Garden, the third-placed New York Knicks outlasted the Portland Trail Blazers 110-93.
© 2024 AFP
