Donovan Mitchell muted in breath-taking games in Utah after taking the lead with the Warriors

With 7:17 remaining in the fourth round of the contest against the Golden State Warriors, the Utah Jazz had a 99.5% chance of winning according to ESPN’s win probability index.

Jazz was up 16 points and had basketball ownership at the time. It’s likely that the Warriors didn’t even score 16 points when there were only about a quarter left. Somehow, though, Utah made it past 20 points in the way to fall, 111-107.

Donovan Mitchell spoke out about another Jazz disappointment after the game. The three-time All-Star champion has kept his team from falling for setbacks, but instead using falls as motivation to not let it happen again.

Via Eric Walden of The Salt Lake City Tribune:

“We have a bunch of guys – myself included – that will feel great when we figure that out,” he said. “So we can sit here and feel sorry for ourselves or we can take it for fuel. And I think we have a group of people who want to do that. Yes, we were mistaken. We messed up the fourth quarter 14 times, 15 times – how do we respond, how do we make adjustments? That’s really where I am, that’s where we are. We will find it. ”

The Jazz didn’t score for more than five minutes and didn’t score another goal until 1:22 minutes when Mike Conley made a driving move. By that point, their 16-point advantage had evaporated as the Warriors had taken the lead.

Right after the 7:17 mark, Utah’s next asset resulted in 9 consecutive misses with 4 turns scattered throughout that period. Golden State took full advantage by connecting on six pointers three straight with no answer in that passage, with four coming from Klay Thompson.

Mitchell, meanwhile, failed to score in the final frame. The Jazz star equalized 0 for 4 when fouled and fouled in the final 7:38 minutes of the game.

“I missed two easy layouts. Pain is increasing. It sucks – straight up. But I’ll figure it out,” said Mitchell. “I haven’t been great all year in these moments. But this is what drives you, to find things like this. I will.”

Mike Conley Jr also spoke out after the game. The veteran Jazz player drew Donovan Mitchell with the highest 26 points of his teammate. The difference is that Conley is +13 on the floor while Mitchell is -21.

“Every game is different, we’ve had different things happen, but I think all in all, it takes that calm, the sense of, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do and do it. another minute,’ and take that and do it,” the Jazz veteran said after the game.

“Not the free time, the time to relax, the time to relax, the time to flip the ball – we have to really think about the game and almost slow it down mentally for all of us. , and all five of them together with that. Thinking.”

The Utah Jazz have had a lot of experience playing together over the past few seasons. There’s more than enough reason to believe this is just a temporary bump in the road, one they hope can make it past playoff time in the second leg.