Down 0-2? Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers have been here before - ESPN

IN THE VISITORS locker room in Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, shortly after the Cleveland Cavaliers had sealed their Game 7 victory over the Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals, coach Kenny Atkinson paused and pointed to a single player across the locker room.

«We turn to you,» Atkinson said to the team's superstar and most consistent player, Donovan Mitchell.

Mitchell had responded after one of his most disappointing games of the postseason — a 6-for-20 shooting, 18-point dud in Game 6 — with one of his most complete games: 26 points on 10-for-22 shooting and his playoff-high eight assists to win Game 7 and eliminate the top-seeded Pistons.

Atkinson had devised a postgame plan prior to the game with Cleveland's season hanging in the balance. He wanted to highlight Mitchell, regardless of whether the Cavs advanced beyond the second round or their season ended that night.

The reason was simple: It was Mitchell who had guided the Cavs throughout a turbulent season, from preseason favorites, to barely above .500 in December, to a franchise-altering trade, to a pair of seven-game series through the first two rounds. In the locker room, Atkinson continued his tribute.

«Not just your on court, but your leadership,» he said. «Your positivity when things were really not going great. Whether we won or lost tonight, we never celebrate you in these things — you don't want that, you don't want the praise — but tonight you deserve the praise.»

Mitchell has made the postseason in each of his first nine seasons. But each of his first three years in Cleveland has ended in disappointment. An embarrassing first-round exit to the Knicks in 2023, losing two straight years in the conference semifinals, including last season as the