Utah Jazz winning without Donovan Mitchell is a great sign

Historically the Utah Jazz have struggled mightily without Donovan Mitchell in action, so it’s been reassuring to see them find a way to win without him of late.

The Utah Jazz gutted out a hard-earned victory over a scrappy Washington Wizards team on Sunday despite trailing by as many as 15 points in the third quarter. The win was highly impressive considering that it featured the return of the formerly injured Bradley Beal and Thomas Bryant for the Wizards and because it was Utah’s ninth victory in a row.

But what was perhaps even more impressive was the fact that the Utah Jazz pulled out the win without Donovan Mitchell, who sat out of the game due to illness. The game prior against Charlotte, Mitchell played but he was far from one hundred percent and it showed as he mustered just four points in 22 minutes of action, making it feel as if he wasn’t truly there in the usual capacity.

While the Jazz obviously want to get Donovan back and healthy as soon as possible, it’s still very reassuring to see them play so well even with him out of commission.

During the past couple years, whenever Donovan Mitchell has been unable to play, or even when he’s just had a bad game for that matter, it’s seemingly been a death knell for the Utah Jazz. Last year, Mitchell was tied with Rudy Gobert for the second highest offensive rating on the team of 110.5, but when Donovan left the court, Utah’s offensive rating dipped by over four points per 100 possessions.

In other words, the Jazz floundered on offense whenever Donovan Mitchell wasn’t around to shoulder the load. Similarly, as evidenced in last year’s first-round playoff bout against the Houston Rockets, when Mitchell struggled the Jazz simply didn’t have the firepower to compete. The opponent could just stack up their D against Donovan and drastically hinder Utah’s offensive attack.

But, as the Jazz have shown the past two games with wins over the Hornets and Wizards, they are now equipped to be a force even without Mitchell.

Bojan Bogdanovic has emerged as an incredible scorer for the Jazz, averaging 21 points per game. Jordan Clarkson and the Jazz bench have stepped up significantly. Rudy Gobert is reaching another level. And Royce O’Neale and Joe Ingles continue to be their steady selves.

The additional offensive options, the internal improvements and the ever solid coaching of Quin Snyder have allowed the Jazz to remain competitive even without their offensive star in action. Hopefully the occasions in which they’ll have to do that will be few and far between, but the fact that the Jazz are getting experience playing without him seems to indicate that they could be far better equipped to make a deep playoff run than they have in some time.

In Sunday’s contest while Mitchell watched from the sidelines, the Jazz had four players score 20 points or more in Joe Ingles (20), Rudy Gobert (21), Jordan Clarkson (23) and Bojan Bogdanovic (31). These additional offensive weapons outside of Donovan should be incredible assets to this Jazz squad to ensure their scoring droughts become few and far between.

It’s common knowledge that the Jazz’s schedule picks up considerably in difficulty near the end of this month and they’ll most certainly need Donovan Mitchell in order to hit their ceiling and thrive during that stretch. Nevertheless, it’s nice to know that the Jazz have become so well-rounded and formidable as a team rather than having to place nearly their entire fate in the hands of one player.

While they’re at their best when Spida is in action, they’re also deep and capable enough to win without him.