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SALT LAKE CITY — Denver coach Michael Malone couldn’t help but chuckle. It may have been due to him coming to terms that the Nuggets' plan to stop Donovan Mitchell in Game 2 had failed epically on Wednesday. Or it may have been due to the fact he might not have an answer for Mitchell's elite scoring abilities and now passing abilities.
“Well, it makes it really hard,” said Malone with a laugh. “He's a hell of a player — we did a much better job on him tonight than in Game 1.”
But did they really?
Mitchell may not have put up a historic scoring number, like his 57-point performance in Game 1 was, but to say he was any less effective would be a stretch. In fact, he might have been even better. He had 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting and eight assists — and those numbers might be underselling his impact on Utah's offensive explosion in the 124-105 win over the Nuggets in Game 2 Wednesday.
It was always unlikely Mitchell would replicate his 57-point performance. There’s a reason he’s only the third player in NBA playoff history to reach that number — it’s hard to do. But the Nuggets were still dead set on not letting it happen again. Denver altered its defensive scheme and brought high help. So for much of the first half, Mitchell essentially was double-teamed.
Two years ago — heck, even a season ago — that might have spelled trouble for Jazz. Even Mitchell himself would admit to that. He was an athletic guard that felt he could beat anyone to the hoop. So why not try to do that? He thought taking over games meant him taking every shot — no matter how many guys were around him. That's not the case anymore.
“Obviously having two years under my belt I don't have the most experience on the team but I have a good amount,” Mitchell said before the playoffs. “Obviously playing two rounds (in 2018) and then obviously had a shaky series last year so for me, (it's) being able to lead, but also being able to learn.”
He’s learned, as all great players have, to take what the defense gives you. So when Torrey Craig and Michael Porter Jr. surrounded Mitchell on the game’s second possession, he didn’t look to try and beat both of them to the basket, he simply passed to the wide-open Joe Ingles for a 3.
And thus it began. Denver trying to swallow Mitchell up; Mitchell passing to an open guy. In the first half, he had just 6 points — he was still one of the main reasons Utah was up by 13.
“It shows what kind of player he is,” Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "He’s about winning. … He cares about his teammates and he wants to win. That for him trumps any individual performance and you saw that tonight.”
Mitchell is one of the best young scorers in the game. Actually, after the first two playoff games, it’s probably safe just to consider him as one of the best scorers — young or veteran. He can beat you at all three levels and in a number of different ways. And in his first two seasons, especially during the playoffs, he was fixated on doing just that. How many drives against the Houston Rockets ended with him being swallowed up or forcing a bad shot?
“I’ve prided myself with the quarantine just (on) how to become a playmaker, you know, trying to wait for the team involvement,” MItchell said. “And it may not always just be scoring. And I think today I just really trusted my teammates and they did a hell of a job… Rudy (Gobert), Joe, JC (Jordan Clarkson), Royce (O’Neale), everybody, to be able to not just get shots but be ready as a playmaker and I think that’s what made it easy for me.”
And made it easy for the Jazz. All Utah had to do to get open looks was set a screen for Mitchell and have the screener slide out. It was almost automatic that two Nuggets would stay on Mitchell and all he had to do was hit the open guy. He found them time and time again. It effectively allowed the Jazz to play 4 on 3 — maybe not coincidentally, the Jazz had a 140 offensive rating on Wednesday. Sometimes the passes were simple, sometimes they involved him firing a bullet across the court, and on one occasion he even did a complete 360-spin before finding an open man in the corner. No matter the difficulty, Mitchell usually made the right read. That's a great sign for the Jazz — and a troubling one for the Nuggets.
“For me it’s all about adapting, understanding that the lanes that were there for me in Game 1 aren’t going to be there in Game 2 and like I said, getting off the ball, trusting my teammates,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got guys who can really score, can really play, and you’ve just got to trust them. And I trust all my teammates.
“If they want to take me out of it just being able to find and make the right read, that’s what I’ve really prided myself on, what I’m trying to do. And like I said, giving the credits to my teammates on, you know, making plays and (believing) in me then I’m going to be able to get off the ball and come back in the third quarter, which was what I did.”
In the third quarter, the Nuggets realized their new plan on Mitchell hadn't worked and once again started dropping the big in defense. All Mitchell did in response was hit five 3s and score 21 points as the Jazz turned the game into a rout. So all in all, if that’s doing a better job on Mitchell, the Jazz may just be celebrating a series victory shortly enough.
