Donovan Mitchell Ready to Build on Historic Playoff Debut

Donovan Mitchell lead the Utah Jazz to a series win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Can he do the same against likely MVP James Harden and the Rockets?

The Utah Jazz already did the “unthinkable” when they knocked of the NBA’s latest super team, the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games during the first round of the NBA playoffs. It’s been well documented that no one expected the Jazz to even come close to sniffing the playoffs after losing superstar Gordon Hayward, along with starting point guard George Hill from last year’s team in free agency.

But here we are in the second round of the 2018 NBA playoffs and the number five seed Utah Jazz are in the Western Conference semifinals facing off against the NBA’s best team, the Houston Rockets and likely MVP James Harden.

“We were doubted… we were overlooked. That’s how a lot of us have been in our careers,” Donovan Mitchell told Israel Gutieterez after his incredible 38 point performance in front of a sold out Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City

In a “something has to give matchup” the NBA’s best offensive team in the Houston Rockets and the NBA’s third best defensive team, the Utah Jazz squared off in game 1 yesterday afternoon. As if the odds weren’t already stacked in the favor of Houston Rockets, who hold home court advantage, the Jazz suffered a major blow in the opening minutes of game six of the team’s previous series when starting point guard Ricky Rubio went down with a hamstring injury. That injury will likely keep him out of the first three games of the series.

“We were doubted… we were overlooked. That’s how a lot of us have been in our careers”

The Rockets have been one of the more explosive scoring teams this season, averaging 110.3 points per game (good enough to be third best in the league), and have shown they are capable of ripping off huge runs at any given time. While Utah’s defense has been spectacular this season behind anchor Rudy Gobert, their offense will be needed more than ever if they have any shot at defeating the Jazz. Enter in leading scorer, Donovan Mitchell.

Mitchell has been sensational through the playoffs, averaging 28.5 points per game and breaking multiple records, while leading the Jazz to the Western Conference semifinals for the second year in a row. But he faces a tall-task in keeping up with the scoring of James Harden, Chris Paul and the Houston Rockets. So far nothing has been too big for the guy who has become the first rookie to record a 30 point game with zero turnovers in the NBA, the third rookie to score 110 points in his first four playoff games, and the rookie the most points in NBA history in his first two playoff games.

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If the regular season series between these two teams was a signal of things to come, the Jazz are in trouble. The Rockets swept the Jazz (4-0) and kept Mitchell in check. The rookie guard finished the series of games with averages of 16 points per game, almost 4 points below his season average. He’ll need to do much, much more this time around in order to advance, especially with Rubio out.

While he did play well in game one, finishing with 21 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds, it wasn’t enough as the Jazz fell behind 0-1 after a 96-110 loss. Mitchell got the start at point guard (along with Ingles) and played fairly well on both sides of the floor. Houston did a great job of throwing several defenders at him including Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza and Chirs Paul, which will likely continue throughout the series. An ankle injury hampered him down the stretch of the game, but shouldn’t prevent him from missing any time.

Though game one really didn’t give people much to believe in the Jazz, don’t count Mitchell out yet. What he’s done in the playoffs have been unreal, and he for sure has more left in him. If somehow, someway he is able to lead this Jazz team to an upset over the Rockets, his performance will be one that goes down as one of the greatest in NBA history.

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The Jazz will look to tie up the series in game two on Wednesday at 8:00 PM on TNT.