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The following is a medical update on Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell:
Mitchell (6-3, 222, Louisville) was re-examined Tuesday morning by the Utah Jazz medical staff and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) testing on his left hamstring. The results were negative. Mitchell has bi-lateral quadriceps contusions and will continue treatment. His status for Game 6 of Utah’s First Round series against Dallas will be updated on Wednesday.
Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz are having a fantastic season. The team has their eye on the Finals, and it’s a realistic vision. In terms of what Mitchell’s personal success may mean to each side’s wallets, here’s the Salt Lake Tribune:
This week, the collective decisions of 100 NBA media members are worth $32 million to the Utah Jazz.
Let me explain. You’ll remember that Donovan Mitchell signed a maximum contract extension this summer, but the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement has a provision that says that Mitchell’s maximum can be for a higher percentage of the salary cap if he makes All-NBA in the season before his extension kicks in.
Mitchell’s contract is guaranteed for 5 years and $163 million — 25% of the Jazz’s salary cap. If he makes an All-NBA team, that contract would jump to $195.6 million — 30% of the Jazz’s salary cap.
Mitchell is currently injured, and will make his return to action in the postseason. Via the Deseret News:
He suffered the injury in a win over the Indiana Pacers and has since missed 13 consecutive contests. During that stretch, the Jazz have won eight games and lost five, most recently Monday night against the Golden State Warriors, all while trying to hold off the Phoenix Suns for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Before sustaining the injury, Mitchell was in the midst of a career year, averaging new highs of 26.4 points, 5.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game.
Through yesterday’s games, the Jazz have the best record in the NBA. But do they have an NBA MVP candidate? Or two? Via the Salt Lake Tribune:
Donovan Mitchell is certainly the Jazz’s highest-profile player. He averages 24 points per game, has the Adidas shoe deal and ranks fourth in the Western Conference guards in All-Star votes — the only Jazzman to appear in the top 10. He’s unquestionably the Jazz’s offensive leader, and even as a younger player, is the most important player voice in the Jazz’s locker room. Over the course of the winning streak, he’s been terrific in multiple facets: scoring, playmaking, rebounding, you name it, he’s done it…
Rudy Gobert is another plausible candidate. He leads Las Vegas’ odds as the most likely player to be named Defensive Player of the Year, which would be the third of his career. He has taken yet another defensive leap this season, getting more blocks per minute than he’s had since his rookie year.
He’s being increasingly recognized for his offensive contributions, too.
The best records in the league through yesterday’s games belong, in order, to the Jazz, Lakers, Sixers, Clippers, Bucks and Suns. Those squads have .600 or better records. And if you’re going to pick out MVP candidates from that list, both Mitchell and Gobert do at least deserve consideration.
The NBA season is little over two weeks old, so it’s a bit early to jump to big conclusions. But it’s perfectly reasonable to start what’s happened so far, which is, the Jazz aren’t off to a great start this season.
The Salt Lake Tribune:
Is a 4-4 Jazz record a disappointment? Is it familiar? Is it… both?
2021′s slow start to the season has brought down the spirits of Jazz fans, and that’s understandable: the loss side of the ledger has seen some disappointing defeats. Utah’s loss to Phoenix is more acceptable given that they rank first in the conference right now, sure. But losses to Brooklyn (sans Kevin Durant), the New York Knicks, and worst of all, the Minnesota Timberwolves, have made for some disappointing nights.
And yet, this isn’t anything new for Jazz fans. In the Quin Snyder era, the Jazz have always started at least somewhat below expectations. Then, they surge on to have a solid remainder of the season, and end up with a quality record.
The Deseret News:
In [Donovan] Mitchell’s rookie season, the Jazz started out 5-5 on the year before racking up quite a few losses and then bouncing back at the end of the season and finishing off the year with a 29-6 run. They were bounced in the second round of the playoffs.
In Mitchell’s second year, the Jazz started with a 4-6 record and played pretty up and down throughout the season before they were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.
Last season, the Jazz started out with a 6-4 record and racked up most of their losses toward the end of the season. Again, they only survived a single playoff round.
Leading the Jazz in scoring through eight games are Mitchell at 21.3 points per game, Mike Conley at 17.4 PPG, Jordan Clarkson off the bench at 15.5 PPG, Rudy Gobert at 13.9 PPG, Bojan Bogdanovic at 11.8 PPG, and Joe Ingles off the bench at 10.0 PPG.
The team’s offense and defense has been close to the league average this season thus far.
Their upcoming opponents are the Bucks, Pistons, Cavs and Wizards.
The Jazz beat the Clippers 106-100 Friday night. And Jazz point guard Mike Conley did serious work. Via the Salt Lake Tribune:
The Jazz are gonna need Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic to perform offensively at the level they’re capable of. Neither is right now, but on Friday, it didn’t matter so much with Mike Conley playing arguably his best game in a Jazz uniform.
He didn’t grab the game by the throat — he just let it come to him, making the smart, patient reads he talked about after the Phoenix loss. When he needed to swing the ball, he did. When he needed to let it fly, he did. The former earned him six assists. And when it was the latter, he was incredibly efficient: 33 points on 11-for-20 shooting, including 7 of 14 from deep.
After Conley’s 33, the second-leading Jazz scorer was Donovan Mitchell with a modest 15 points on 14 shots.
In the loss for the Clippers, Paul George had 25 points on 22 shots, plus eight rebounds, four assists, six steals and five turnovers, while Kawhi Leonard had 20 points on 19 shots, plus 16 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks.
While Nuggets center Nikola Jokic scored big, guard Jamal Murray went wild dropping serious buckets Tuesday. Here’s the Denver Post reporting:
With the Nuggets facing elimination from the playoffs and trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, Murray ripped Game 5 away from Utah’s grips and ensured Denver could fight another day. The Nuggets’ 117-107 white-knuckle win guaranteed, at least, a Game 6 on Thursday, with Utah holding a 3-2 lead.
As his late 3-pointer rattled home, giving the Nuggets a 108-101 lead with 2:00 remaining, there was no hiding Murray’s smile. As this series has proved, Murray thrives as the tension mounts. His monumental 42-point masterpiece saved the Nuggets’ season…
Nikola Jokic added 31 points, six rebounds and four assists, his selfless nature more than willing to cede the spotlight to his counterpart. Neither Nuggets cornerstone rested during the second half.
Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 30 points, but the Nuggets may have finally found the answer to Utah’s offensive riddle. The Jazz managed only 44 points in the second half.
In addition to his scoring, Murray contributed eight rebounds, eight assists and no turnovers. A fantastic performance.
Mitchell has been incredible for the Jazz all series. Through five games he’s averaging 37.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, on 54% FG shooting and 53% from three-point range.
Friday at 1 p.m. ET, the Jazz face the Spurs. But Utah will do so while giving plenty of rest to a number of key players. Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune reporting:
Of course, with Thursday afternoon’s injury report, we may surmise that where the Jazz are going is to an immediate loss against the Spurs on Friday morning.
After all, with four starters — Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley and Royce O’Neale — slated to sit out due to rest, left peroneal (ankle tendon) strain, right knee soreness, and right calf soreness, respectively, defeating even ninth-place San Antonio would take some doing.
Anyway, that’s the bad news. Now, a look back at the previous pretty good, really bad, somewhat less bad, and somewhat kind of good news …
After the Jazz opened up with a win against the Pelicans, some observers wondered if Utah was potentially capable of securing the Western Conference’s postseason No. 3 seed. Then, after back-to-back losses to the Thunder (wholly dispiriting) and Lakers (merely disappointing), the panic brigade began disseminating widespread missives on the inevitability of the seventh seed. And after a victory over the Grizzlies that was discouraging for how competitive it was, but also encouraging for the signs of progress evident within, the general assessment of the Jazz now is …
Who knows?
Leading scorers for the Jazz this season:
Donovan Mitchell 24.0 PPG
Bojan Bogdanovic 20.2
Rudy Gobert 15.1
Jordan Clarkson 15.0
Mike Conley 14.4
And for the Spurs:
DeMar DeRozan 22.2 PPG
LaMarcus Aldridge 18.9
Patty Mills 11.6
Bryn Forbes 11.2
Derrick White 11.0
With the Jazz also without Bojan Bogdanovic (injured), this is a good opportunity for the Spurs to snag a win and keep their playoff hopes alive. But they face an uphill battle in a crowded West.
Meanwhile, Utah sits 4th in the West and already clinched a postseason spot.
Monday night on national TV, the Jazz faced the Lakers, and hung around, but Anthony Davis’ dominance was too much to handle. Here’s the Deseret News reporting:
For exactly 30 minutes on Monday night against the Los Angeles Lakers at Disney World, the Utah Jazz looked like a completely different team from the one that was altogether befuddled in a 16-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder last Saturday.
The new week brought a new Jazz squad, as they were aggressive in getting into the lane, moving the ball and they caught some fire from distance in the second quarter after an 0-for-9 start in the first.
But then suddenly at the midway point of the third quarter, the wheels came off. Up by four at 71-67, Utah surrendered a 14-0 run in less than five minutes, and the new double-digit deficit was too much to overcome in an eventual 116-108 loss.
The defeat moved the Jazz to 42-25 overall on the season and 1-2 during the NBA’s restart in Orlando.
And the Salt Lake Tribune:
What are the Jazz playing for here, exactly?
After tonight’s loss, they’re now in fifth, half a game below the Houston Rockets for the four seed. That means they’d play the Rockets again in the playoffs in the first round, if things started today.
Normally, you’d say that they’re playing for home court positioning. But everyone’s playing in Orlando this year, and I have a hard time believing that the virtual fans are making the Jazz play better or worse. Sorry, virtual fans. The Jazz’s home-court advantage is usually one of the best — if not the best — in the NBA, but it simply won’t matter this year.
So given that, the only reason the Jazz are playing right now is to
A) avoid the seventh seed, which would mean playing the Clippers in the first round
B) figure things out so that they can play well in the playoffs while staying healthy
C) find the best matchup they can in the first round and throughout the playoffs
And the OC Register:
The Lakers (51-15) are a better team when Davis is a focal point. And while LeBron James (22 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) got in on the action, particularly in the fourth quarter, it was no coincidence that Davis’ most assertive game so far in the restart was also the Lakers’ most convincing win.
The added emphasis on getting Davis rolling early was part coaching script, part teammates feeding him, and part Davis himself, feeling unsatisfied after his 14-point effort two nights before.
“I have to play better basketball than I did to help the team win,” Davis said. “Even though I was making the right plays, I still have to be aggressive. I didn’t like the way I performed. … So it was a collective effort to come out more aggressive.”
In the win for the Lakers, Davis shot 13/28 for 42 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals, while LeBron James shot 9/16 for 22 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
In the loss, Donovan Mitchell shot 9/22 plus 11/12 free throws for 33 points, while Mike Conley hit 8/17 shots for 24 points and eight assists. But 21 turnovers and just 10 combined points from their starting forwards made it tough for Utah.
In NBA scrimmage action Thursday, the Suns beat the Jazz, 101-88. Donovan Mitchell got buckets in the loss, hitting 5-of-8 FG, including 3-of-4 three-pointers, for 17 points. It was the first game for either team in a long time. Here’s the Deseret News reporting on the various lineups the Jazz played around with:
The Jazz started the game with the expected unit of Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Royce O’Neale and Joe Ingles.
From there, more of the expected with Jordan Clarkson and Georges Niang being the first subs to enter the game and later Tony Bradley giving Gobert some rest. But, when O’Neale committed his fourth foul in the second quarter, Jazz coach Quin Snyder had to zag a little and go with a smaller lineup.
Mitchell, Conley, Clarkson, Ingles and Gobert closed out the first half. That lineup with Bojan Bogdanovic in place of Clarkson is a familiar one for the Jazz, playing a total of 236 minutes together during the regular season. With Clarkson instead of Bogdanovic, Thursday was the first time the group had played in a game together.
The Jazz will be without one key player for the remainder of the season: Bojan Bogdanovic, who had season-ending wrist surgery a few months ago.
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The Jazz have gone in the wrong direction so far this season. At just 17-19 they have just the 12th best record in the Western conference. But now here’s the good news: it’s a crowded conference, with lots of teams boasting similar records. They’re only 2.5 games behind the 8-seed Kings, and only 6 games behind the 1-seed Nuggets. There’s plenty of time for them to rise. As for young star Donovan Mitchell, here’s the Salt Lake Tribune reporting:
Once people saw what Mitchell was capable of, they asked for growth — even despite a foot injury that severely hampered what he was able to do this summer. And once NBA opponents saw how Mitchell propelled the Jazz to great heights, they changed their game plans to stop him.
The result has been an inconsistent second season in which Mitchell’s numbers have taken a small step back from the heights of his rookie year. He’s still averaging just over 20 points per game, but taking an extra shot in order to get there. The rebounds, the assists, the 3-point shooting, and the turnovers are all about five percent worse than last season.
By any reasonable standard, Mitchell’s sophomore season has been impressive: second-year players who carry their teams offensively are a rarity in the NBA for good reason. And yet, that rookie season in which he put his stamp on the franchise, the city, even the league itself holds Mitchell to a higher plane.
As for the team as a whole, they remain one of the league’s best defensive teams. But the offense has a lot of work to do.