Donovan Mitchell Reacts To Jayson Tatum’s Hard Foul That Bloodied Cavs Star

Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers left TD Garden on Tuesday night with the Boston Celtics handing them their first loss of the season.

Mitchell also got a good shot to the face thanks to Jayson Tatum to go along with the defeat.

Tatum committed a hard foul on Mitchell as the Cavaliers star accelerated into the front court with the ball in his hands in the final seconds. After Mitchell used a pick to get away from Jrue Holiday, Tatum aggressively went for a steal, but ended up colliding with Mitchell and knocked him to the floor. Mitchell stayed down for a little bit and his mouth was bloodied by the blow he took from the Celtics forward.

The referees decided not to review the play for a possible flagrant foul and Mitchell, who could have drummed up what happened, downplayed the incident following Boston’s 120-117 win.

“I thought it was worse than what it was,” Mitchell told reporters, per CLNS Media. “I just watched it. It was just a reach-in foul. I just happened to hit a part of his body and it hurt. But I thought it was worse in the moment. … It was just a basketball play.”

Mitchell, who finished with a game-high 35 points on 13-of-29 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds with three assists, certainly doesn’t hold any bad blood toward Tatum for what happened.

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