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SALT LAKE CITY — As Donovan Mitchell was leaving the locker room Wednesday, he was reminded of the fan in Detroit. The man in the corner whose relentless talking helped spark Mitchell that night and who TV cameras caught Mitchell screaming, “You did this. This is your fault,” after he iced the game.
“He started something,” Mitchell said.
That’s putting it lightly.
In the last 10 games — starting with that Utah win over Detroit — Mitchell has averaged 30.3 points and become the first Jazz player to average over 30 points in a 10-game span since Karl Malone in 1998.
“He’s playing unreal,” Ricky Rubio said. “That’s the Donovan we need. He’s playing out of his mind.”
But it wasn’t simply a random fan that has sparked Mitchell’s breakout month. It's been the expansion of his game. He's improved as a playmaker, he's figured out how to better read defenses and he's getting a better feel of when and where to attack. All of that has ended the talk of any type of sophomore slump.
There are times during practice that Jazz assistant coach Johnnie Bryant will get a little confused. He’ll be watching Mitchell go through a combination of dribble moves and something will seem a bit off. They just won’t be like the ones Mitchell does in games.
“A lot of the stuff I don’t really work on,” Mitchell said. “And when I work on it, I don’t do it the same way. It’s funny. Johnnie always brings it up. ‘Do it like you do in the game.’ But in the game, I’m just doing it. If I think about it, that’s when I start to get stuck. I just go out there and react.”
That’s actually where Jazz coach Quin Snyder wants him to be. Snyder has praised Mitchell over the past three weeks — not because of his scoring numbers, but because of how he's read and reacted to defenses, crediting him for adapting on the fly to an increased ball-handling role.
Those point guard minutes have helped Mitchell become better.
“I think it’s allowed me to be more aggressive,” Mitchell said. “Allowed me to understand where I’m getting my looks and whatnot.”
And it’s helped to have someone like Rubio in his ear. Even as Rubio sat out with a right hamstring injury, he had an impact on the team. During breaks in the action, Rubio and Mitchell would often discuss things that the second-year star may have missed — openings that he hadn’t seen and reads that he got wrong.
“You see me talking to him during the timeouts,” Mitchell said last week. “Even if I score three times in a row, there are times I don't feel comfortable — what am I doing wrong? Or times when I turn the ball over three times in a row — it’s the same conversation. He’s always there, that shows the great teammate he is.”
And those talks have paid off. Mitchell’s teammates have noticed his improvement in reading how defenses are playing him. That’s led to easier shots for Mitchell and everyone else.
“I think he’s grown these last few games when we didn’t have a point guard and it’s made the game come a little easier to him when he moves off the ball,” Jae Crowder said. “He’s done a great job of reading and reacting. He’s reading the defense at a high level, probably the best in his career. I’m very proud to see the growth in him and I’m glad to be alongside him."
During Wednesday’s win over the Nuggets, Mitchell showcased a number of dribble combinations that wowed the sold-out Vivint Arena. He split double teams, he froze defenders with hesitation dribbles, and he got to the hoop with a series of spins. But his favorite move of the night? A behind the head pass that led to a Joe Ingles’ floater.
“I felt like Ricky,” Mitchell said.
It wasn’t just because of the flashy pass, either. Mitchell had gotten into the paint, but instead of settling for a contested floater, he passed it out — something, he admits, he may not have done earlier in the season.
“I think at the beginning of the year I took tougher shots, in all aspects,” Mitchell said. “There are times that I have made passes now that I was like, ‘Man, I would have shot that in October, November, December.' I think that's my mindset, making it easier on myself.”
