Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets Takeaway #2: Donovan Mitchell’s shooting slump
Another takeaway, another negative, only there’s light at the end of this tunnel.
Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell’s three-point shooting woes continued into Tuesday night’s action, as he shot 1/9 from beyond the arc. Otherwise, Mitchell looked to be his usual unstoppable self. The Nuggets were helpless in their attempts to defend his relentless drives to the basket.
Mitchell finished the game 9/20 from the field. In other words, all of his misses from three-point range but three were on three-point attempts. It has become quite clear that we are watching an NBA superstar in the prime of his career suffer a severe shooting slump.
Utah Jazz fans should be encouraged by this development. The team is 3-0 to start the 2021-22 NBA season in spite of Mitchell’s 30.3% accuracy on 11.3 three-point attempts per game. Last season, Mitchell shot 38.6% on 8.7 attempts per contest.
That’s not elite accuracy, but given the substantial volume in tandem with Mitchell’s ungodly ability to get to the basket for layups and dunks, it’s an excellent mark. The odds feel overwhelmingly likely that Mitchell’s accuracy will return to somewhere closer to his 2020-21 mark as the season wears on.
In the meantime, the Jazz are 3-0. Whenever you can start the season undefeated with your best offensive player in the midst of a shooting slump, you’ve got reason to be encouraged. Once Mitchell regains his three-point shooting form, the Utah Jazz will become all-the-more difficult to beat.