Donovan Mitchell

The Cavaliers found themselves in a familiar position down 14 to the Celtics in the third quarter Sunday, but unlike last spring's East semis, they did not back down -- thanks largely to the efforts of Donovan Mitchell, who took over down the stretch.

Cleveland trailed by 12 early in the fourth quarter but were sparked by Mitchell in a victory between the top two teams in the East.

Despite a poor first half of this game, Mitchell was able to figure things out after the break. He scored five points in the first two quarters before scoring 10 in the third and 20 in the fourth quarter. He struggled mightily in Friday's loss to Atlanta, which made his start to this game a little scary. However, he redeemed himself and helped Cleveland end their first losing streak of the season. Mitchell's numbers are slightly down from last season, so he'll look to build off of this performance against the Wizards on Tuesday to kick off a four-game week.

Garland did most of his scoring before halftime, which helped keep Cleveland afloat in this game. He did more facilitating after the break, but that allowed them to keep the game close until Donovan Mitchell took over. Garland's assists are slightly up from last season, but he has still been able to average a career-low in turnovers. This was his second game this season that he finished without a turnover, which helped make up for a slightly below-average field goal percentage. He'll look to keep this up with Washington coming to town on Tuesday to kick off a four-game week.

Mitchell was able to provide value in other categories in this game, but it didn't truly make up for one of his worst shooting performances this year. That was a big reason that Cleveland dropped their second straight game against the Hawks. The Cavs still sits atop the Eastern Conference standings, and they'll host Boston on Sunday to close out this week in a matchup for the best record in the conference. Mitchell will need to have a bounce back performance in order for Cleveland to get back in the win column.