The Utah Jazz suffered a disappointing 114-106 loss at the hands of a depleted Brooklyn Nets squad last night.
It was a game they should have won. The Nets were without either of Kyrie Irving or Ben Simmons. With that said, Kevin Durant is the type of player that give his team a chance in any contest.
He led the charge for the Nets last night, finishing with 37 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. With his Nets fighting for their playoffs lives, one of the league’s brightest stars took another opportunity to shine.
On the other hand, nobody on the Jazz was able to do the same. Here are 3 takeaways from this difficult loss.
Takeaway #1: Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell needs to be efficient
We’ll start with a fairly obvious point. The Jazz are reliant on Donovan Mitchell to score, and do it efficiently. When he’s not connecting, the entire system can collapse.
That’s what happened last night. Mitchell did score 30 points, but he shot 9/23 from the field and 5/15 from three-point range. His general inability to connect from deep had a widespread effect on the entire offense.
That was particularly apparent in his assist-to-turnover ratio. He had just 3 dimes to go with 6 miscues. As a whole, the team shot 44.6% from the field and 35.9% from downtown: not horrible numbers, but not impressive ones either.
When Mitchell isn’t demanding substantial defensive pressure, the wheels fall off on this Utah Jazz attack. No one player can guarantee a superstar performance every night. This Jazz team is simply structured in a way that when Mitchell can’t deliver one, it’s hard for them to win.