1 stud and 2 duds from Utah Jazz loss to Warriors

Utah Jazz dud: Donovan Mitchell

In Donovan Mitchell’s first game back from an injury, he made a statement against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Last night, he directly contradicted that statement.

Mitchell finished with 20 points in this contest. He deserves some credit for that. Unfortunately, those points came on 4/19 shooting from the field, including a 2/9 clip from downtown.

That inefficiency cost the team. A 7/19 night from Mitchell, assuming one of those field goals was a 3, puts this game into overtime. Of course, you can’t directly blame Mitchell (or any one player) for this loss, but consistent bricks from the best player on your team is generally not a recipe for a successful evening.

Mitchell also deserves credit for adjusting his offensive profile. He began looking for teammates shortly after it became apparent that it wasn’t his night. He finished this game with 9 assists, 4 of which came in the fourth quarter.

He tried his hardest to stir the drink for the Utah Jazz, but it didn’t want to be stirred. The Jazz roster a deep platoon of talented offensive players, but ultimately they can only go as far as Mitchell can take them. He is not a pass-first point guard. He is a scorer, and when he can’t score, it’s difficult for the Jazz to win.

Mitchell will absolutely bounce back. These types of games are inevitable. Regardless, it’s impossible to call this anything other than a dude of a performance.