Utah Jazz: Three takeaways from crucial win against Wizards

The Utah Jazz rallied from a halftime deficit to beat the Washington Wizards, and found the joy of playing basketball in the process. Here are three takeaways from the win.

The Utah Jazz finally snapped out of their post All-Star break trance. Along the ride there was plenty of typical Jazz moments that remind us why we’ve come to love this team.

The ball was moving on offense, the home crowd was hyped, Rudy Gobert had four blocks at the rim, and the Utah Jazz came away with their 37th game of the season to move back into fifth place in the Western Conference.

Donovan Mitchell had 30 points, and is closing in on Karl Malone‘s franchise record for most 30 point games in the first three years of being a Jazzman. What made me most happy about Don’s game was him using his athleticism frequently.

He wasn’t afraid to sky in the air to grab rebounds, even off of his own misses. Early in the third quarter there were a three possessions where Mitchell was aggressive at attacking the basket. The first, he missed, grabbed his own offensive rebound, and got fouled as he attempted to put it back in.

The second, he grabbed his own offensive rebound and found Bojan Bogdanovic (44 percent 3-point shooter) for a look beyond the arc. Bogey’s shot missed, but still not a bad way to end a possession.

And on his third drive to the rim of the third quarter, Mitchell got right to the rack in transition when the Wizards defense was caught sleeping. They had no choice but to foul him, and he made both free throws.

Mitchell’s aggression showed in the box score with his eight rebounds on the night. By the end of the third quarter his box score didn’t look too hot with 18 points on 17 shots, but thanks to a big fourth quarter (as usual), Mitchell ended the night as the Jazz’s best player.

Here are three other takeaways from the much needed victory.