Utah Jazz: Mitchell thrives against LA, Jazz turnaround to face Bulls

The Utah Jazz crushed the Los Angeles Lakers behind Donovan Mitchell’s massive effort a night ago but have little time to rest with the Chicago Bulls in town.

Some nights this season, it’s been really tough to be a Utah Jazz fan. Other nights, it’s felt like one of the best feelings in the world. Such is the nature of sports to some degree, but especially considering how Jekyll and Hyde the Jazz have been this year, they’ve definitely provided a whirlwind of emotions.

Fortunately, the latter of those aforementioned options was certainly in effect on Friday night as the Jazz cruised to a 113-95 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers. Perhaps even more thrilling was the fact that beloved Jazzman Donovan Mitchell absolutely thrived in the contest.

With five of Utah’s guards (including all their point guards) out of action due to injury, there was some skepticism leading up to the contest that Mitchell would be able to find success running the point and even that the Jazz would be able to win against a LeBron-less Lakers team riding a two-game winning streak. But both Spida and his Jazz teammates proved those concerns to be absolutely unwarranted.

Donovan finished with 33 points on 14-of-24 shooting and a whopping nine assists. He made good decision after good decision, whether it was taking the shot himself or finding the right teammate for an easy look. It was certainly his best outing as the starting point guard, something he hasn’t done with any semblance of frequency.

He also had this incredible dunk, which merits mentioning in and of itself for just how spectacular it was–

But Mitchell’s incredible play wasn’t the only reason the Jazz won. They played riveting defense as a unit and enjoyed a well-balanced scoring output. Every Jazz starter finished in double figures, including Royce O’Neale who had four big threes in the first half and finished the game with five.

Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert‘s stalwart defensive effort kept the Lakers reeling all night, and a well-rounded Jazz defense absolutely shut down LA’s leading scorer (outside of LeBron) Kyle Kuzma. Coming off a career high 41-point performance against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, Kuzma went for just 11 points on an abysmal 4-of-18 shooting from the field and 0-5 from deep against the Jazz.

So, despite Utah’s abundance of injuries, they managed to put all the pieces together to crush the Lakers on Friday. But their time for celebration will be limited as they now have to quickly turn around and face the Chicago Bulls this upcoming Saturday evening on the second night of a back-to-back.

While back-to-back slates can be challenging, there are a few reassuring aspects about this one. First of all, it’s a home back-to-back for Utah, meaning that the travel aspect is removed and they’ll instead have slept in their own beds and ideally be feeling refreshed for a second straight night of butt-kicking and defending their home court. Secondly, this game is against the lackluster Chicago Bulls, who at 10-32 are most assuredly lottery bound.

In other good news, it also happens to be a back-to-back for Chicago as well. But theirs is of the much tougher road variation. They played in the late slot a night ago at Oracle Arena against the Golden State Warriors where they were crushed by a horrendous count of 146-109 after trailing 43-17 at the end of the first quarter.

This means they’ll be coming into Salt Lake with either their tail between their legs or an angry chip on their shoulder. Regardless of which it ends up being, though, they’ll be coming in fatigued. And I don’t believe Chicago has anything close to the talent, depth or discipline to topple the Jazz on the back end of a back-to-back in a hostile environment.

That’s especially true considering that the Bulls are dead last in the league in offensive rating, and in the bottom third defensively. Combine those aspects against a Jazz team whose offense has been hot of late and has the fifth-best defense in the Association, and that sounds like a losing recipe for the visiting Chicago squad.

The Utah Jazz will need to be wary of the likes of Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen who are two prolific Bulls players with the ability to catch fire and do some real damage against opponents. But so long as Utah keeps those two in check and is focused in all other areas as well, this should be an easy win that will put the Jazz at two games above .500.

With any luck, this recent spurt and a victory against Chicago will keep the Jazz above that .500 mark for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs. Taking things one step at a time, though, I’m expecting a commanding victory for the Jazz with the Bulls in town Saturday night.

My Prediction – Jazz 103, Bulls 87