Shortly after Paul Millsap blocked his shot and died down, Donovan Mitchell had the ball on the left wing, a one-point Utah Jazz lead and Millsap stood in his way.
Mitchell pushed the Denver Nuggets forward, dribbled between his legs and drilled a 25-foot before starting on the Denver bench.
“I want this!” Mitchell wrote three times, with a dissertation.
By saying he’s driven by last year’s first-round finish and his critics, Mitchell is on a rare playoff score. He scored 51 points in a 129-127 victory in Utah to push the third seeded Nuggets to the edge.
“That shot was a symbol of just something – not myself, but just as a team, what we wanted,” Mitchell said. “And we worked hard to get to this point. But the job is not complete. And as good as this feels, we won by two, and we’re on game 5.”
Mitchell has scored 16 of the Jazz’s last 20 points to come out on top in a historic playoff game. Denver’s Jamal Murray tried his best to even bury the series by burying nine 3-pointers and scoring 50 points to go with 11 rebounds and 7 assists.
It was the first time in playoff history that two opposing players each scored 50 points in a postseason game and only the sixth time in NBA history, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
“I love hearing negative things [said] about me, “Mitchell said about what has helped him take his game to another level this postseason.” The slap on me has been inefficient, not a team player, whatever it is. I’m proud to be a team player, to be a player. I have said it a thousand times, and I will continue to do so. … Fifty is what it is, but I’m lucky I got seven assists. “
The sixth-seeded Jazz could eliminate Denver on Tuesday in Game 5. After overcoming a 57-point blast by Mitchell to win Game 1 in overtime, the Nuggets have dropped the past three games. They were competitors until the end in this one after being blown by 19 and 37 in games 2 and 3.
Denver coach Michael Malone changed his starting lineup by adding Monte Morris and Jerami Grant and Michael Porter Jr. and bringing Torrey Craig off the bench. Denver led by eight early in the second quarter, but trailed by eight after Mitchell scored 11 points in the third quarter.
Murray and the Nuggets were at one point on three occasions in the fourth quarter. But they could not contain Mitchell, especially off screens. The one time Millsap blocked Mitchell from behind on an urgent lay-up attempt, Millsap let the Jazz star know, said something to him and then stared at him while he was 1:02 left on the floor and the Jazz up 119-118.
On the ensuing play, Mitchell buried the 3 at Millsap, placing a devastating dagger in Denver’s hopes after postseason.
“It’s a sad loss,” Malone said. “We have to regroup. Series is not over. We do not have to win three games in one. We just have to win one game to keep the series alive. That is our plan at the moment.”
Mitchell has waited a season – and one quarantine of four plus months – to return to this stage after losing to Houston in five games in the first round last postseason.
Last year in Game 5, Mitchell went out in that series 18 of 22 shots, including all nine of his 3-point attempts, missing by 12 points. Now, he’s playing another Game 5 with a chance to beat Utah in the second round, after putting up the type of numbers that only Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson have placed in the playoffs.
“Honestly, it’s the first round,” said Mitchell of Jordan and Iverson with two 50-point games in one series. “The two guys you mentioned made it to the finals. Michael Jordan is apparently the greatest basketball player of all time. I got a lot of work to do to pick up those guys. I’m honored to be in that category, but we do it all in the first round. “
“It’s no secret that last year’s playoffs were not my best,” added Mitchell, who spent countless hours watching the pandemic. “And I took that personally, and I will trust my work and move on.”
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