Utah Jazz dud: Donovan Mitchell
Since returning from injury, Mitchell has been playing a personal game of good cop, bad cop. In even measures, he follows every outstanding game up with a weak one, and vice versa. Last night, the bad cop showed up.
Mitchell finished this game with 17 points, shooting 8/22 from the field and 1/9 from three-point range. He didn’t even compensate with playmaking, dishing out 3 dimes to go with 2 turnovers.
All of which comes with the territory of being a high usage offensive player. The Jazz can expect subpar games from Mitchell. However, this trend of delivering one in every other game should probably end as soon as possible.
On the other hand, every other game has been immaculate, and the Utah Jazz keep winning. They probably don’t need to worry about Mitchell. He’ll round into form and regain the relative consistency he demonstrated before his injury.
In the meantime, it’s hard to call this performance anything less than a dud.
The Utah Jazz got lucky in this one. They probably don’t squeak out a 115-109 victory with either of Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. in the Nuggets’ lineup. They’ll still improve to 28-10 on the season.