History Made By Jazz Guard Donovan Mitchell

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – On the latest edition of the Jazz Notes Podcast, Ben Anderson and Trevor Allen dissected Donovan Mitchell’s historic 57 point performance in the Utah Jazz game one loss to the Denver Nuggets.

The Jazz fell 135-125 despite Mitchell’s incredible performance. The Jazz have now lost all four meetings with the Nuggets this season, including there regular-season losses. Despite getting swept, two of the games have gone to overtime, while the other two losses were decided by nine total points.

You can listen to the entire episode of the Jazz Notes Podcast here.

Mitchell Makes History

Mitchell has been one of the NBA’s most heavily criticized young stars. The often gets slighted for his inconsistent shooting performances, including during last year’s postseason. The Jazz lost to the Houston Rockets in five games, while Mitchell struggled as the Jazz main offensive threat.

Mitchell averaged 21.4 points per game during the team’s first-round exit, but shot just 32 percent from the floor and 25 percent from the three-point line. The guard has more turnovers (21) than assists (16) in the series.

The 3rd highest scoring performance in #NBAPlayoffs history ‼️@spidadmitchell goes off for a career-high in any game 57 PTS, 9 REB, 7 AST for the @utahjazz in Game 1!#Drop40 x #WholeNewGame pic.twitter.com/uZTOSuadw1

— NBA (@NBA) August 17, 2020

However, with the Jazz once again lacking firepower with neither Bojan Bogdanovic in uniform, Mitchell gave not just the greatest performance of his career, but one of the best in NBA playoff history.

The 57 point outburst from Mitchell is the third most from any player ever in postseason history, trailing only superstars Michael Jordan and Elgin Baylor.

“What Donovan Mitchell is doing is truly historic,” Anderson said in the podcast. “And it’s the reason why Jazz fans have been so excited about him. It’s why I think there’s so much optimism around this team going forward.”

The guard’s previous career high was 46 points against the New Orleans Pelicans in January. Coincidentally, the Jazz lost both games.

Jazz Run Out of Gas

The Jazz had a four-point lead with under two minutes, but quickly ran out of gas down the stretch. Mitchell committed a careless eight-second violation in the backcourt, allowing the Nuggets to cut the lead to just one.

After pushing the game to overtime, the Jazz opened the extra period with a missed jump shot and four consecutive turnovers.

Donovan Mitchell's unbelievable 57 performance wasn't enough for the @UtahJazz against the Denver Nuggets.

But there are reasons for optimism heading into game 2. #TakeNote https://t.co/92zPsM0dUG

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 17, 2020

“For Denver, it seemed like to get to overtime gave them some new life,” Allen said. “And that’s where they really just took advantage. Utah wasn’t able to answer back. I think it took them what a good two or three minutes to even score their first bucket in overtime.”

The Nuggets opened overtime on an 8-0 run, and outscored the Jazz 20-10 in total including a perfect 4-4 performance from the three-point line.

Nuggets Hot Shooting Dooms Jazz

Jamal Murray’s incredible shooting performance propelled the Nuggets past the Jazz. Murray scored 36 points on 13-20 shooting, including 6-9 from deep. Denver made six more three-pointers than the Jazz despite six fewer attempts.

CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP. pic.twitter.com/CgFtCBZg0U

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) August 17, 2020

“I think if you’re a Jazz fan, you want to see up around 50 attempts,” Anderson said. “That’s certainly what Quin Snyder has been doing. They just happen to get outshot by Denver”

Denver connected on a franchise postseason-record 22 three-pointers on 41 attempts, while the Jazz made 16-47.

Subscribe and listen to every Jazz Notes podcast here. Tune in weekly for new episodes and catch daily Jazz Notes updates on KSL News Radio.