Donovan Mitchell's battle with refs features a historic quarter followed by a post-game rant

SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Mitchell barely missed an official with a flailing fist.

Frustrated that he didn't get a call on a drive to the hoop, Mitchell had punched the air aimlessly right in the vicinity of an official. The play in question wasn't an egregious miss — Zach LaVine hand-checked him and there might have been some contact at the rim — but by that point, Mitchell's frustration had boiled over.

After repeated drives to the rim, Mitchell felt he had been repeatedly hand-checked and grabbed — and fouled. So when yet another call didn't come, he let his frustration out: He swung around and punched the air (fortunately, not making any contact) and then ripped into the ref.

"I told (Jazz owner) Ryan Smith I'm gonna get fined today and he'll have to pay for it," Mitchell said.

That was his prelude to what was a mostly-calm rant about how he feels he's been officiated lately. Mitchell said he doesn't think he's getting the calls he deserves, and went as far as to hint that he's being officiated differently than other stars in the league.

"I'm intentionally trying to get to the basket, get to the free-throw line and I'm air-balling layups — that's not me," Mitchell said. "And I just felt like at that point, I just had to sound off because it was just getting ridiculous. And I feel like I had some last game and the game before that when I wasn't getting those calls. I'm not going to make this like solely a 'Donovan being officiated different' thing, but I do feel like there are times when I don't get to those calls, and I was tired of it.

"I am tired of it because I'm working my ass off to get downhill and try to create our offense, not even to get to the bucket to score, but just to draw the defense and kick because that's what our offense is predicated on," he continued. "I'm constantly being hand checked or stopped with two hands because I'm so strong. That can't keep continuing to happen. It leads to turnovers, bad shots. ... It puts everyone in a bad spot."

The play where Mitchell punched the air led to a wide open Chicago 3-pointer. That was bad. The irony? The missed calls may have helped the Jazz to be in a good spot, too. It triggered one of the best surges of Mitchell's career. It got so ridiculous, it wouldn't have been a surprise to see Mitchell shrug as he ran back up the court — he wears 45 in honor of Michael Jordan after all.

Entering Wednesday's game, Mitchell's career high for made 3s in a game was seven. He did that in a single quarter. Mitchell went 7 of 9 from deep in the third quarter to score 25 points in the period. Five of those 3s came after he picked up his much-earned technical foul.

"To be honest with you, it was me and the ref," Mitchell said. "I feel like I didn't hear or see or think about anybody else."

He compared the run to another third quarter from early in his career — one Jazz fans will likely remember. As a rookie, Mitchell scored 22 points during the third quarter of Utah's Game 6 and series-clinching win over Oklahoma City in the playoffs.

The shots were different on Wednesday, but it was the same type of feeling. He got to his spots and raised over defenders.

"I feel like I could have kept going," Mitchell said.

Especially, since the refs were still out there.

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