WASHINGTON — Down 15 with one quarter to play against one of the NBA’s worst teams, Donovan Mitchell played with a bit of desperation in the final period.
«Be aggressive,» he said. «Can’t really lose this game coming out of the break.»
Mitchell scored 24 of his 48 points in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied to beat the Washington Wizards 130-126 on Friday night. With both teams coming off a five-day layoff, the Cavaliers shot just 15-of-53 from 3-point range. It would have been worse if not for Mitchell’s 8-for-15.
The Wizards fell to 3-20 on the season.
Mitchell scored 11 points in about 2½ minutes to start the fourth. He ended up with the highest-scoring fourth quarter in the NBA this season, surpassing the 22 points by the Orlando Magic‘s Jett Howard on Nov. 23 against the Boston Celtics.
Mitchell’s 24 points also tied the second most by a Cavaliers player in the fourth quarter in the play-by-play era (since 1997-98). Darius Garland scored 27 points in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in November 2023. And LeBron James had 24 in the final quarter of a loss at Chicago in April 2008.
Mitchell is averaging a league-best 9.6 points per game in the fourth.
«You’re playing a team that’s 3 and whatever, and you’re down 15, you can kind of tuck your tails and … kind of give in, right?» Mitchell said. «But we found a way.»
The Cavaliers trailed by 17 during a third quarter in which they allowed 40 points. It was 100-85 entering the fourth. Mitchell finally tied the score at 122 with a 3-pointer, then scored inside with a minute remaining to give Cleveland the lead.
Then came a moment when the 6-foot-3 guard appeared overmatched — a jump ball between him and 6-foot-11 Marvin Bagley III. But both players mistimed their jumps, and the ball ended up with Cleveland’s Lonzo Ball, who made two free throws with 30.9 seconds left that put the Cavs up by four.
So Mitchell could look on the bright side after the game, while understanding that the big deficit was concerning in itself.
«That can’t happen. We can’t be in that position,» he said. «We have to figure it out.»
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
