What Donovan Mitchell said about hard foul from Jayson Tatum

Celtics

“I’m fine. He got me here (points to his cheek) and I was just praying I didn’t have a concussion.”

A collision with Jayson Tatum left the Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell bled from his mouth in the waning seconds of the Celtics’ 120-117 win over Cleveland on Tuesday night.

As Mitchell dribbled the ball up the floor, Tatum reached for a steal and ended up crashing his shoulder into Mitchell’s face. Mitchell stayed on the floor for about a minute before getting up to take the free throw. He made both shots.

Mitchell said after the fight that he feels okay and that the blow seemed worse than it actually was.

“I thought it was worse than it was. I just saw it,” Mitchell said in one video posted by CLNS Media. “It was just a range error. I just happened to hit part of his body and it hurt, but I thought it was worse at the moment, so if you would have asked me at the moment, yes, but it was just a basketball game.”

Mitchell put his hands over his head as he laid down on the floor. Trainers came over to check him out and he was eventually able to get up and finish the game.

“I’m fine. He got me here (points to his cheek) and I was just praying I didn’t have a concussion,” Mitchell said. “That’s my only thing. But like I said, it was a play on the ball, he’s got bony shoulders, so I hit his shoulder and that’s what it is.”

The Celtics built a 17-point lead at halftime. The Cavs cut it to four in the second half but were ultimately unable to overcome the deficit.

“I think it got a little too stagnant,” Mitchell said. “We kind of kept our eyes on each other and I think we just continue to get into that ball movement. Also, we didn’t push the tempo. They did a good job of being physical. We weren’t really able to to get on the floor, get into the paint and create.”

Mitchell said he saw the game as a benchmark. Cleveland has the best record in the Eastern Conference at 15-1 and the Celtics are the defending champions.

“You can learn a lot from these matchups,” Mitchell said. “I think you don’t just say this is the end-all-be-all, but I think you can learn a lot from what we did. There were a lot of things they did well, a lot of things , we did well and a lot of things we did poorly and we can adjust. We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well as a team, but at the end of the day we found a way to execute and that’s something we can be proud of.

“When you’re playing the defending champs, when you’re playing playoff contenders, you always want to continue to come out and fight,” he added. “And then the NBA Cup, you want to go to Vegas. You want to find ways to win it, too. It’s definitely a yardstick. You want to see where you’re at, but don’t put too much weight on it because we’re going to continue building and we’re not going to be the same team we are in April.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports reporter

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Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

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