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SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Mitchell shouldered the blame.
The reason his team lost yet another fourth-quarter lead? He said it was his fault. He missed a few shots, didn't do enough to box out on a free throw attempt, and didn't contest a critical late jumper; he wasn't vocal enough, wasn't urgent enough, wasn't good enough.
At least, that's what he claimed.
"I put this one on me," Mitchell said, moments after his team saw a 15-point, fourth-quarter lead turn into a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. "I just got to be better as a leader for the group. I don't really place any blame anywhere else. As a leader of this team I shouldn't have let this happen."
In reality, the loss wasn't on Mitchell. He scored well enough, got his teammates involved and even had a decent defensive game. He had 24 points (thought just 6 in the second half), seven rebounds and six assists. The late box out? It's pretty hard to put that on him.
Yet, what happened on Friday in San Antonio wasn't anything new. The Jazz have coughed up big leads all season long — sometimes they end up escaping with a victory (like last week against Houston) and sometimes things go like they do on Friday.
It's a pattern, and at this point, a concerning one. A team that is supposed to be ramping up for a playoff run is still struggling to close games against inferior teams. That doesn't bode well for postseason success.
So why does this keep happening?
That's a question the Jazz have been trying to answer for an entire season now. It's not some secret they haven't played well at the end of games; and 66 games into the season, they still don't have a concrete explanation of why it continues to happen.
"This is less about us acknowledging the fact that we need to be better, we just have to do it," Mike Conley said. "We have to go out there and make those plays and put the pedal to the metal when it's time. We obviously thought we should have won this one. Again, it's not something that's new to us as far as having been in this position in the past. So we've just got to go out there and do it. Ultimately, I think we'll be better from it."
That's a quote that could have been taken from November, December, January or even February (in Utah's lone loss in that month, it gave up a double-digit late lead).
With just 16 games left, the Jazz are running out of time to solve the issue — something that Conley even admitted.
"The season is getting closer and closer to the playoffs, so we can't continue to be having these conversations as the year goes on," he said.
Rudy Gobert said the team needs to always raise their level of play entering the fourth quarter, no matter if they are down 15 or up 15. Again, this isn't a new message or a new thought. Yet, nothing has changed.
Why?
Mitchell wishes he knew.
"I don't know. It's getting late in the season, and we've got to figure this out," Mitchell said. "Otherwise, we are going to be in the same position we were last year. I have the utmost confidence that we will but it's frustrating, especially for me because I felt like I let the team down especially tonight with my play, but I don't have an answer for you right now."
All he knows is that it can't continue to happen, but he's said that for months. So he's opting to put it all on his shoulders, forgetting about Royce O'Neale's poor box out, Danuel House's 3-point foul, Rudy Gobert's late flagrant, and putting things squarely on his shoulders. Maybe that's the message the team needs.
"It starts with me. If you want to say anything and want to put it anywhere and blame anybody, go ahead and blame me," Mitchell said. "I'll be better for the team and I know our guys will too. But if you want to put it anywhere, just put it on me."
