Donovan Mitchell has revealed an unusual detail about the night he scored a career-high 71 points against the Chicago Bulls, saying he had a few drinks on New Year’s Eve before the game.
“We played them on New Year’s Eve. Then we had New Year’s in Cleveland. Then we played the next day. Now I will say this. I’ve never drank before a game in my life. It was New Year’s. So I did have a drink, a few drinks the night before the game. Never done that in my career. Haven’t done it since. So I tell people like that was probably what, you know, allowed me to have the night I had,” Mitchell said on Cousins with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady.
Mitchell’s performance came on January 2, 2023, when the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Bulls 145-134 in overtime. The guard played 49:48 and finished with 71 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists, while shooting 22-of-34 from the field, 7-of-15 from three-point range and 20-of-25 from the free-throw line.
The 71 points remain one of the highest-scoring individual performances in NBA history. Mitchell also became the first player in league history to record at least 70 points and 10 assists in the same game.
His 60.8 Game Score reflected the extraordinary all-around impact of the performance. Mitchell also finished with a plus-19 rating despite playing nearly 50 minutes in a game that required overtime.
Cleveland needed virtually all of Mitchell’s production to survive. The Cavaliers scored 145 points, with Mitchell accounting for 71 of them, or nearly half of the team’s total output.
Jarrett Allen was Cleveland’s second-leading scorer with 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting, while Cedi Osman added 19 points and Kevin Love contributed 12 points and 17 rebounds. Cleveland shot 52.2% from the field and made 16 of its 46 three-point attempts.
Chicago also produced a major offensive performance, scoring 134 points. DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 44 points on 16-of-32 shooting, while Zach LaVine added 26 points and Nikola Vucevic finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Mitchell’s 71 points eclipsed his previous career high and matched one of the most remarkable scoring totals of the modern NBA era. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter before adding 13 more in overtime, helping Cleveland overcome a nine-point deficit entering the final period.
