Utah Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell delivered another 50+ game in the First Rounds series against the Denver Nuggets, but this time, it was enough for his team to get a win. Mitchell scored 51 points on Sunday night to give Jazz a 129-127 win and a 3-1 lead in the series.
With this electric performance, Mitchell not only put his team in a great position to advance to the Second Round but also got his name alongside a pair of Hall of Famers. The 23-year-old guard became just the third player, alongside Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson, to have multiple 50+ games in a single postseason. His first came in Game 1’s 135-125 overtime loss when he scored in 57 points.
Mitchell was especially great in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 out of Jazz’s final 20 points and holding off Nuggets, who were trying to get back into the game and were just one point behind on several occasions.
“I love hearing negative things [said] about me,” said Mitchell. “The knock on me has been inefficient, not a team player, whatever it is. I pride myself on being a team player, on being a playmaker. I’ve said it a thousand times, and I am going to continue to do that… Fifty is what it is, but I am more happy that I got seven assists.”
Denver was led by another spectacular young guard in Jamal Murray. Murray put up an almost equally impressive performance in trying to shoulder his team to a win, scoring 50 points. This was most points by a player in a single postseason game in the franchise’s history.
But not even a historic performance was enough for Nuggets to get the win, and Murray isn’t ready to give up just yet. “There’s a lot of fight in us left,” said Murray. “One game at a time.”
