There are playoff scorers, and then there are players who seem to believe the first game belongs to them.
Donovan Mitchell's latest opener fit that second category. He scored 32 points in Cleveland's 126-113 win over Toronto on April 18, and the bigger number attached to the night was nine: nine straight 30-point games in series openers. At that point it stops reading like trivia and starts reading like temperament.
Some stars ease into a series, probing coverages and waiting for the matchup to reveal itself. Mitchell appears to prefer the opposite. The pattern suggests he sees Game 1 as the moment to set the terms before the opponent can get comfortable. If there is a first punch available, he wants to throw it.
What makes this version of the streak more interesting is that Cleveland does not look as dependent on pure rescue offense as some of Mitchell's earlier playoff teams did. Max Strus added 24 points off the bench in the opener, and that matters because the difference between a spectacular Mitchell night and a meaningful Cleveland advantage is support. Explosive starts are valuable on their own. They become dangerous when they are backed by enough roster depth to keep the pressure on once the game moves beyond the initial surge.
That is the real promise in this streak now. Mitchell is still doing the tone-setting, but the Cavaliers may finally be built to make those opening statements hold up across a whole series instead of merely surviving behind them.