Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz served up some epicness during their team’s Game 2 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Wednesday ended up being a pretty good day to be a Utah Jazz fan. Despite the malaise that’s lingered since the Jazz dropped Game 1 of their first-round series with the Oklahoma City Thunder, not to mention the apathy from national hoops pundits about the team’s chances in the series, Utah went out and stole Game 2 in OKC.
Now, the momentum and the homecourt advantage both belong to the Jazz. It turns out this team is pretty good. But a couple of Jazzmen in particular — namely, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert — went full-on legendary in the contest.
They made it fun in a way that supersedes Xs, Os, advanced stats and hard-hitting analyses. Mitchell by doing his best MJ impression (and joining His Airness once again in a manner most historical) and Gobert by battling with Steven Adams, then giving him an epic send-off.
Granted, Mitchell was far from efficient during Game 2. 28 points on 25 shots is pretty much the antithesis of what gets people hot and bothered these days.
However, his 13 points and four boards in the fourth quarter to help seal the win were inspiring.
So, too, was the fact that he made history along the way. Through his first two career playoff games, Mitchell now has 55 points. As a result, he passed Michael Jordan with the highest total through the first two career postseason bouts of any guard in NBA history.
Of course, Mitchell is no stranger to being alone in a category with Jordan. During the regular season, he joined MJ as only the second rookie to play a full season and have both a usage rate over 29 percent and an effective field goal percentage over 50.
As I said, legendary.
However, my favorite moment from Game 2 came courtesy of the Stifle Tower. After fighting tooth and nail with Adams throughout the contest, racking up 13 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shot along the way, he saved his most bad-ass moment for last.
After goading Adams into his sixth foul and a trip to the locker room, Gobert served up this sweet sayonara —
Was it a dick move? Yes. Was it still awesome? Absolutely!
We’ll have a more in-depth look at went down in Game 2 for you tomorrow (yes, Derrick Favors will get his just due for essentially saving the game for the guys in gold). Right now, though, I’m wearing my fan hat — and I’m seriously fanning out on Mitchell and Gobert for getting epic in the game’s waning moments.
Good on ya, guys, and haters, stand back!