Davion MItchell reveals the real reason Heat ‘fell in love’ with him

With the Miami Heat in the midst of a West Coast road trip that hasn’t been in their favor, currently coming off a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, 127-110, the team has also been dealing with a myriad of injuries. Besides Heat star Tyler Herro missing the whole road trip, another that has been in and out of the lineup has been Davion Mitchell, who’s been a revelation for the team this season.

Mitchell has been a consistent benefactor for Miami, serving as a mainstay in the starting lineup, being the team’s point guard, who, on top of being an improved playmaker, is also one of the Heat’s best defenders. As he’s questionable for Saturday night’s game against the Utah Jazz with a left shoulder sprain, he was asked about possibly limiting running through opposing screens, which he’s done so well.

Besides expressing why he won’t, he also goes into what made Miami ‘fall in love’ with him in the first place when he was originally traded to the team in the Jimmy Butler deal last season.

“No,” Mitchell said, according to The Miami Herald. “That’s just who I am, honestly, that’s how I got in this league, that’s the reason the Miami Heat fell in love with me, and the way I’ve played on that end of the floor. And I love doing it. It’s not like I feel like I got to do it. I just love doing it. It makes the game fun for me, so I’m just going to keep doing it.”

Heat’s Davion Mitchell is dealing with a lingering shoulder injury

Though the Heat beat the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, the rest of the road trip has been concerning, seeing the losses on Monday to the Golden State Warriors and the aforementioned defeat against the Trail Blazers.

It would help if there were consistency in health, as Miami has been dealing with injuries to not just Mitchell and Herro, but also Norman Powell (questionable for Saturday with a back injury) and Kel’el Ware, who was sent home to treat his hamstring injury.

When it comes to Mitchell, he suffered the shoulder injury when running through a screen in Jan. 13’s win over the Phoenix Suns. Mitchell would miss the next two games, then play in the following two before reaggravating it on Tuesday, leading to the absence on Thursday.

“He loves to defend,” Spoelstra said of Mitchell, who’s averaging nine points and 7.2 assists per game. “He loves to take the challenge. In this modern-day NBA, you’re going to deal with 50, 60 pick-and-rolls on a nightly basis. If you’re guarding one of the main options, then you’re going to probably have 25 of those. It takes courage, it takes toughness to be able to fight through screens. He’s been able to do that. He’s built like a tank.”

It remains to be seen if Mitchell misses more time as the Heat are 23-22 ahead of Saturday’s game against the Jazz.

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