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SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Mitchell was flanked by Jared Butler, Juancho Hernangomez and two team staffers as he ran through a five-on-five scrimmage just four days before the playoffs were set to begin.
Practice was over.
Bojan Bogdanovic, Rudy Gobert and Jordan Clarkson had already left the court, and Mike Conley, Danuel House Jr. and Royce O'Neale were doing casual individual work on the other side of the gym.
Utah's All-Star guard, though, was running through an extra full-court scrimmage.
"It's time," Mitchell said afterward. "That's really it. Just trying to tune up."
Mitchell has proven he knows just how to prepare for the playoffs.
Entering his fifth playoffs, Mitchell is on his way to becoming one of the elite postseason scorers ever. He's currently fifth all-time in playoff points per game with 28.85, and he's averaged 33.9 points over Utah's last two postseason runs.
One of the biggest questions ahead of Saturday's Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks is: Can Mitchell do it again? A game on Feb. 25 against Dallas may hold the answer, and it has nothing to do with who the Jazz were playing.
Mitchell scored 33 points and shot 58% from deep in a close win over Utah's current playoff opponent. The fact that it came against the Mavericks was irrelevant; more important, then, was when the game was played on the schedule. The win was Utah's first contest back from the All-Star break — and that gave Mitchell a mostly-relaxed nine days off between games.
And if there was anything that could predict Mitchell's success this season, it was rest.
On two days of rest, Mitchell averaged 29 points per game on 50% shooting; and when he got three days off, his numbers jumped to 30.2 points per game on 53% shooting. On back-to-back games, however, he averaged just 23 points and shot 40% from the field.
The Jazz played their second game in as many nights when they rolled into Dallas on March 7, and Mitchell went 5 of 19 for 17 points.
It's simple, really: When Mitchell got rest, he played at an All-NBA level; when he didn't, he was well off that pace. The good news for the Jazz is that there will be plenty of rest in the playoffs.
"I think for me, it's just locking in and focusing on the specific matchup, whatever it is," Mitchell said of his past postseason success. "Each year I've been fortunate to play my best basketball at playoff time, and that's just what I'm supposed to do."
Gobert thinks Mitchell is, once again, in a place to put up big numbers. But he added that the Jazz need more than just Mitchell's gaudy scoring numbers to reach the team's lofty goals.
"I can see the ways he's working even right now — in practice, before practice, after practice — everything he does is at the highest level," Gobert said. "I think the playoffs, that's what it's about, it's about raising your level. Sometimes it's not necessarily how many points you're gonna score, but for us to be able to raise the level as a team, raise our physicality, raise our communication. That's what I think is really gonna help us take the next step."
Mitchell recognizes it's up to him to push the Jazz to that next step.
The late-season losses to the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns weighed heavily on Mitchell as he took a lot of the blame for not making plays late, especially as Utah saw double-digit leads evaporate. He didn't make the right reads and didn't make enough shots. He knows he has to be better in the playoffs — just like he has been before.
"At the end of the day, just be who I am, and this year is no different," Mitchell said. "I gotta go out there and do that and lead this team."
That's why he was running five-on-five scrimmages after practice; he wants to be ready when the time comes.
