Analyst Says Comparing Donovan Mitchell To 1 Superstar Is Unfair

The Cleveland Cavaliers will have no margin for error when the series heads back to Cleveland for Game 5.

They’re facing a 3-1 deficit despite having a better record than the New York Knicks, and a lot of that has had to do with Jalen Brunson’s stellar play.

As a matter of fact, ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Rizzo has come to realize that maybe the Cavs didn’t have the best player in this series like most people thought, citing that Brunson is a better player than Donovan Mitchell.

“I’m not comparing Donovan to LeBron because it’s not fair for anybody… that was something that we took for granted for a long time,” – @TheRealTRizzo.

Are you disappointed in Donovan Mitchell’s playoff performance so far?

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— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) April 24, 2023

Rizzo added that it wouldn’t be fair to compare Mitchell to LeBron James and that Cavs fans took for granted that time when they knew they would always have the best player on the court, regardless of the rival or the outcome of the game.

Notably, Mitchell was lights out in the regular season for the Cavaliers, and he has a history of huge games in the playoffs as well.

Nonetheless, he wasn’t exactly at his best against Brunson and the Dallas Mavericks last season, and that’s become the case again in this series.

So, maybe Brunson is his kryptonite, and that’s it, as it would be unfair to say he hasn’t shown up in the playoffs throughout the course of his career.

But whatever the case, he and Darius Garland need to get back to basics and prove why they had the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference this season when they head back to The Land for a must-win Game 5 showdown.