Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The first question to Donovan Mitchell after Monday's Game 1 loss to Denver was about his individual performance. How could it not be? The Utah star had just scored 57 points, the third-most in NBA playoff history, in a historic performance. But before he got to that, he wanted to talk about someone else's first.
“First off, I want to give a huge shoutout to Juwan Morgan,” Mitchell said. “Very impressive for a rookie to come in and start his first playoff game and do what he did and contribute the way he did.”
Don’t feel too ashamed if you hadn’t heard of Morgan before Monday. The seldom-used rookie forward from Indiana wasn’t drafted and was signed and then cut before the season began.
After an impressive start to the year in the NBA G League he earned himself a spot with the Jazz, where he has seen action in just 21 games — but mostly during times when most fans have already tuned out. So it may have been a surprise to some that Morgan was chosen to replace Mike Conley, who is away from the team to be with his family after the birth of his third son, in the playoff opener.
Heck, he even was surprised.
“It was crazy, just everything that led up to it,” Morgan said. “Coach (Quin Snyder) telling everybody at practice, and then the things leading up to it; I think everybody just reached out saying it’s just basketball, we do this every day, it’s nothing different. Just go out there, know the plays and give it your all, and that’s what I did.”
With 2:52 left in the third quarter, Morgan jumped into a sea of Nugget players. His goal: get the rebound. Morgan secured the ball between three Denver Nuggets and kept it as Jamal Murray and Jerami Grant tried to pry it away. That was one of his seven rebounds on Monday, and one of what seemed like an endless supply of hustle plays.
Morgan finished with 3 points, seven rebounds and an assist in 25 minutes. Those aren't eye-popping numbers, but he gave the Jazz a reliable effort. On defense, he matched up with Paul Millsap and hustled for rebounds. On offense, he made a 3-pointer and deferred to the more household names.
“My main focus was the same thing anytime I step on the floor,” Morgan said. “Hustle hard, play defense, get offensive boards, block out — all the little things — and then make life easier for all the guys they have here to score.”
Morgan knows who he is, and that's a compliment. He's not going to play outside of himself. He'll jump on the ground for loose balls, stand his ground when he defends and shoot open 3s — a shot that he has had to work to develop and one of the reasons he earned a roster spot in the fall.
His 3-pointer with 7:28 remaining on Monday gave the Jazz a 4-point lead. On defense, he helped hold Millsap to just 8 points and three rebounds.
The Jazz outscored the Nuggets by 17 when Morgan was on the court. Yes, there is a lot of noise to plus/minus stats, but it’s never a bad thing for your team to win when you’re in the game, and the Jazz were really good with him out there.
“He did a hell of a job on (guarding) Paul Millsap, whoever he was guarding, (giving us) extra possessions,” Mitchell said. “Huge credit to him. I know a lot of people were probably confused and figuring it out, but we trust him; and shoutout to him for stepping up.”
Morgan credited Conley and Royce O’Neale for helping him with the nerves before his first playoff start. They stayed in his ear and reminded him that it was simply another game and for him to do the things that earned him the opportunity.
He did just that.
“Frankly, he did an excellent job,” Snyder said. “I want him to take his 3 from the corner, he made one of them. I thought he was very active and aggressive, committed to the defensive glass. So, a lot of good things from Juwan tonight. Look for more of that.”
