The Utah Jazz took Game 1 tonight on the back of a spirited performance from their star Donovan Mitchell. Spida had another 40-point outing.
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However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Salt Lake City fans all game long. They entered their locker room at halftime with a 13-point deficit, having only scored 19 points in the first frame. Donovan Mitchell was not pleased with his team at the time.
However, the Spida did not bow down or use negative tactics to rally his troops. The 25-year-old got his team together at their bench before the 3rd quarter started and delivered a pretty good pep talk. It consisted of these words:
“They played a Game 7 two days ago today. It’s how we all start this quarter. They’re going to call it quits and get ready for Game 2 if we hit our shots in this period.”
Donovan Mitchell drops 32 points in the 2nd half to lead a Utah Jazz comeback
The Jazz star had had a pretty torrid first half during the game. He took more shots than he had points, and he didn’t seem to be able to powercharge his team’s offense as usual.
But superstars in the NBA can never truly be kept quiet for too long. The Spida recalibrated his jumpshot and came out STEAMING in the third quarter. By the end of that period, the Clippers’ halftime lead had vanished and they were tied with the Jazz.
An exhilarating 4th quarter then saw the Jazz take a commanding 10-point lead with 5 minutes remaining. However, contrary to Donovan’s predictions, the Clippers were far from done at that stage.
Clippers nation surged on another run to cut the deficit to 6 points with 50 seconds remaining. Paul George then swished a 3-pointer before Donovan Mitchell was held scoreless on the Jazz’s final possession of the game.
With around 15 seconds left, the Clippers brought the ball up the court and began to scan for a game-tying shot. The Jazz, however, held their nerve, ran them off the 3-point line and Rudy Gobert made the play of the game with a block on Marcus Morris as the game clock expi”Cred.
