After Kyle Anderson tipped in a missed Tyus Jones shot, the Jazz led by just three points, 96-93. Jazz head coach Quin Snyder called a timeout and Donovan Mitchell, set to check in after the stoppage, met his team in the huddle and pointed to his head. “It’s right here,” he said. “It’s all up here.”
Donovan Mitchell stood on the sideline in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter on Saturday night and rubbed his hands together, watching as the Utah Jazz’s lead slowly dwindled.
After Kyle Anderson tipped in a missed Tyus Jones shot, the Jazz led by just three points, 96-93. Jazz head coach Quin Snyder called a timeout and Mitchell, set to check in after the stoppage, met his team in the huddle and pointed to his head.
“It’s right here,” he said. “It’s all up here.”
Mitchell can’t keep from thinking about last year’s playoffs, about the blown 3-1 series lead against the Denver Nuggets, the mental lapses for three consecutive games that resulted in the Jazz being unceremoniously knocked out at the end of the first round.
The Grizzlies went on a 13-4 run to start the fourth quarter, tied the game and put the Jazz in a position where talent and skill weren’t going to be enough.
“A lot of it was mental,” Mitchell said. “It’s all about the mental part — locking in, executing and then also responding to adversity when you make mistakes, when you miss three shots in a row, when they make five shots in a row. That’s what the playoffs are, that’s what it’s going to come down to.”
The Jazz would close the game on a 21-11 run that included 11 points from Mitchell, seven points from Mike Conley, and a string of defensive stops that put the game out of reach for the Grizzlies.
As Mitchell and Conley got hot in the final minutes of the game, Mitchell was more subdued than he has been in the past. There was no overt celebrating, no hand clapping, no jawing at the crowd, no yelling or flexing.
Mitchell was quiet and reserved through the Jazz’s game-winning push. He’d hit a 3-pointer and remain stone-faced, Conley would hit a floater in the lane and Mitchell would turn around and start calling out defensive positions.
“Just trying to save your energy as much as possible, not needing to be as exuberant,” Mitchell said. “Not being as loud and demonstrative in my movements. Understanding that it’s a hard, long game of being pressured and it’s physical. Just go out there and try to execute the play...not having as much emotion behind it, because that takes away from the job at hand.”
Mitchell knows that the Jazz aren’t going to get through a game mistake free. The Jazz are not going to commit zero turnovers and allow zero offensive rebounds. But, Mitchell firmly believes that if the Jazz can stay even-keeled, keep their reactions appropriate and win the mental battle, that they can win this series and any other game that lay ahead.
“He’s thinking about winning,” Snyder said. “When you have a guy that has that much belief in himself, that much belief in his teammates and a competitive fire, he’s going to make some things happen. It’s not going to be successful on every possession, but he’s not going to be deterred either.”
Though, resisting the urge to think too far ahead is also an ingredient in the mental fortitude the Jazz are approaching every game with.
“We have to continue to be locked in,” Mitchell said. “This is just one game, and we have another one coming up in a few days. Just keep our same mentality, continue to adjust, continue to get better.”
It’s on the mental battlefield where the Jazz believe they are winning this series against the Grizzlies.
The Jazz lead, 2-1, in the best-of-seven matchup, not because the Grizzlies aren’t talented or skilled. The Jazz know that this Memphis team is capable of putting together runs and pushing the Jazz, but the Jazz are focused and calm, ready to win one possession at a time, one quarter at a time, one game at a time.
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3wFYBT5
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