Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell vowed to play better In Game 4 than he did in the team’s Game 3 loss against Houston, telling reporters he didn’t show up when his teammates needed him most.
Mitchell, a top-two candidate for Rookie of the Year along with Sixers guard Ben Simmons, scored just ten points on 4-of-16 shooting from the field in Game 3.
“I didn’t really do much as a whole, like I wasn’t there,” Mitchell said, according to ESPN. “That can’t happen. That will probably be what I take away the most. It’s like I would have been better off just not showing up, because that’s what I did. I didn’t show up at all for my teammates, and I’ll fix it.”
Houston’s defensive gameplan was centered around slowing down Mitchell in Game 3, with the Rockets giving him one of the toughest challenges he’s seen all season. Mitchell struggled to find a rhythm early and never seemed to establish the presence Utah covets.
“They’re a good defensive team. They’ve been that all year,” said Jazz coach Quin Snyder, who mentioned that Mitchell needs to adjust to the Rockets shading him to push him to go to his left hand, according to ESPN. “They raised their level, is what happened, and we weren’t able to get some of the things that we got [in Game 2]. I think we might have thought that it was going to be easier than it was. They raised their level. They made it harder, and we weren’t able to get where we wanted to get on the floor.”
Despite being down 2-1 in the series and losing homecourt advantage, Mitchell labeled the importance of remaining focused and ready for Game 4 on Sunday.
“We’ve got to take this one on the chin and respond in Game 4,” Mitchell said.
