'This one is definitely No. 1': Minnesota heckler relives his back-and-forth with Donovan Mitchell

SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Mitchell was pointing.

He had just knocked down a wide-open 3-pointer off a pass from Mike Conley and lifted his arm Conley’s way — or, at least, that’s what it looked like at first. But this wasn’t a nice gesture acknowledging a good pass. No, it was much too aggressive for that.

That point was meant for Jordan Dye, the 28-year-old Minnesota fan sitting courtside who had been letting Utah Jazz star Mitchell have it for the better part of three quarters.

That point was Mitchell talking back.

“That fourth quarter he kind of caught fire,” Dye said. “He had a couple of nice assists, hit that 3. After every one of those, he kept pointing over at me and saying, ‘This is your fault.’”

So, Jazz fans, you know who to thank for Mitchell’s electric 11-point fourth quarter that pushed the Jazz to a win in Minnesota on Wednesday. Heck, even Mitchell gave Dye a shout out.

“I think it's just one of those things you just have to have fun within the game,” Mitchell said after the game. "And I thank him, because I was kind of struggling.”

This wasn’t the first time that Dye has got the chance to chirp back and forth with NBA players. Dye said his close friend has courtside season tickets and he’s lucky enough to tag along to plenty of games.

He’s tried to get conversations going with James Harden (“He was pretty stone-cold last year. He wouldn’t even give me the time of day.”). He’s had Meyers Leonard comment on an Instagram post after the two jawed at each other (“He’s been super cool about it.”). But nothing compared to Wednesday.

Dye ended up being part of the story of the game. That was new.

“Having him talk about it in the postgame interview,” Dye said, “it was fun. You really feel like you are part of the game. It’s just really fun to get to interact with them, and getting that kind of shout-out after the game was definitely cool.”

So how did it all start?

Dye said he first said something to Rudy Gobert and then to Joe Ingles. That’s when Mitchell came back with a warning.

“Don’t start this. Don’t start this," Dye remembered Mitchell saying to him at the beginning of the game.

Dye didn’t heed the warning. Through three quarters, Mitchell was just 5-of-15 from the field. That gave Dye plenty of ammunition for some heckling.

“When he was missing, I started giving him grief,” Dye said.

Turns out, that backfired. Mitchell went 3-of-5 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter — and he let Dye know about it.

“There was a stretch where it was like every other play,” Dye said. “Either looking over, or something popping up. He was looking for it. When I was yelling at Joe, he was kind of looking over at me. He was ready to go.”

The back-and-forth interaction wasn’t the first time Mitchell has done some playful jawing with fans during games, and likely won’t be his last. It’s really part of who he is.

Mitchell is in his third year, but he still sees himself as a young kid who just happens to be really good at basketball. Earlier this week, when talking about helping out a local high school student, Mitchell even had to stop himself for a brief second.

“It’s weird to say 'kid' because I am a kid,” Mitchell said.

As good as he has become — with a current level of play that is pushing him into the upper echelon of the league — he still has that mindset. So when Dye first started talking, Mitchell, of course, took the bait.

And Minnesota loss or not, Dye is glad he did.

“This one is definitely No. 1 so far,” Dye said of the experience. “It’s been funny having my buddies sending me stuff all day. It’s been fun to see all the funny responses on Twitter, having him talk about in the postgame interview. ... It was a fun-back and-forth. He seems like a great dude.”

Dye already has his tickets for next month’s rematch against the Jazz in Minnesota.

Yes, he plans to still be talking. He’s just hoping there will be a little less pointing.

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