Cavs' Donovan Mitchell named Eastern Conference Player of the Week again

Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season. Mitchell was honored for games played from Jan. 27 through Sunday. It is the eighth Player of the Week award of his career and fifth since coming to Cleveland. Only LeBron James, who won the award 42 times while with the Cavs, has been honored more. Interestingly enough, James, now with the Los Angeles Lakers, won the Western Conference award this week. Mitchell joins backcourt mate Darius Garland, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo, Boston's Jayson Tatum and Denver's Nikola Jokic as the only players to earn the honor multiple times this season. Tatum will be in town tonight as the Celtics and Cavs square off at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in a battle of the top two teams in the East. Mitchell led the Cavs to a 4-0 record last week, as Cleveland improved to an NBA-best 40-9. It's the best start in franchise history and tied for the 17th best start in league history. The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder averaged a team-high 22.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.0 steal and shot .533 from the field, .406 from 3-point range and .933 from the foul line. For the past week, Mitchell ranked first in the East in plus/minus (plus-91), fourth in 3-pointers made (13), fourth in free throw percentage (.933), 11th in points per game (22.8) and 13th in assists (6.0). His .533 clip from the field was fourth among all East players who averaged at least 20 points. The Cavs won by 19 points or more in each game and did not trail in three of the four wins against Detroit, Miami, Atlanta and Dallas. Mitchell, who was named an All-Star starter on his sixth consecutive All-Star selection, has appeared in 47 games this season, averaging 23.7 points (21st in the NBA), 4.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals (21st in NBA). He has made a team-high 172 3-pointers, the fourth most in the NBA, and is shooting a career-high .398 from long distance. Bob Finnan can be reached at rfinnan30@gmail.com. Follow him @BobCavsinsider on X.