Kevin Love makes bold claim about Donovan Mitchell's 71-point game

Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell had one of the all-time greatest performances in NBA history on Monday night. During Cleveland’s 145-134 overtime win over Chicago, Mitchell finished with a Cavs franchise-record 71 points on 64.7% shooting.

In doing so, Mitchell also recorded the highest individual scoring performance since NBA legend Kobe Bryant’s historic 81-point game almost 17 years ago. On top of that, Mitchell added eight rebounds and 11 assists, nearing a 70-point triple-double. Naturally, Mitchell’s electric performance impressed many, including veteran Cavs forward Kevin Love, who made a fairly bold claim about his teammate.

Following the Cavs’ win, Love said that Mitchell’s 71-point performance was the best performance he’s ever witnessed in his entire career.

“In my 15 years, that’s the best performance I’ve ever seen,” Love said.

This is extremely high praise considering Love has played with multiple NBA stars throughout his 15-year career. This includes former Cavs stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. However, most would agree that it’s hard to argue with Love on this one, given the historic nature of Mitchell’s performance.

Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Donovan Mitchell’s historic night

Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff speaking with All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell

Kevin Love wasn’t the only member of the Cavs to make a bold claim about Donovan Mitchell. Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff also said after Mitchell’s historic night that he’s not sure how many players in the league can replicate his performance.

"I don't know how many guys in our league can do what he did tonight," Bickerstaff said.

Bickerstaff’s comments are certainly justified by the numbers. The only other active player who has put up 70 points in a game is Phoenix Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker. Booker scored exactly 70 on March 24, 2017, against Boston.

Outside of Booker’s 70-point game, the next-highest-scoring performance by an active player was by Golden State Warriors superstar point guard Steph Curry. Curry dropped 62 points against Portland on Jan. 3, 2021. So it’s clear that it takes a special type of player to pull off such a prolific scoring performance.

Bickerstaff also added that the Cavs needed every single bucket from Mitchell to be able to secure the victory. So once he saw that Mitchell was having a special night, he just let him take over.

“We were treated tonight to one of the greatest performances in the history of the game. Every single play that he made was a play that was necessary,” Bickerstaff said.

“Donovan has never put himself above the team, so how can you not root for a guy like that? I told everyone else to get out of the way,” Bickerstaff continued.