Donovan Mitchell played his first minutes as a Cleveland Cavaliers player this morning. The shooting guard made his debut with his new team during his team’s visit to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, where they played their first friendly of this preseason, which ended in a 113-112 victory for the locals.
The former Jazz player had 19 minutes, all of them in the first half, in which he had time to score 16 points, dish out 5 assists and capture 2 rebounds. With a 6/9 in the shot, including a 3/4 in triples, Mitchell showed off his multiple offensive resources and his ease to add, being in charge of leading the scoring since his first night with the Ohio jersey . It was also the first meeting as Cleveland players for Raul Neto and Robin Lopez, who, starting off the bench, finished with 12 and 2 points, respectively.
The 76ers, for their part, also gave minutes to their additions this offseasonamong whom Montrezl Harrell stood out with 13 points and De’Anthony Melton with 11. Danuel House Jr., more discreet, stayed at 3, while PJ Tucker left without adding his first point as a Philadelphia player but was the only one in be a starter, a job he looks set to keep when the regular season begins.
The game’s leading scorer, however, was an old (but not very) acquaintance from the Wells Fargo Center stands. Tyrese Maxey didn’t need more than 15 minutes to go to 21 points thanks to his excellent 9/11 shooting from the field. The point guard, who has already signed an excellent season of sophomoreseems determined to finish exploding in this third year as a professional, and he showed very early on that he wants this to be the course that establishes him as a star in the league.
(Portrait photo: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
