Donovan Mitchell and the top seed Utah Jazz faced off against the Los Angeles Clippers in round two of the Western Conference semifinals Tuesday, June 8th and they just kept on rolling. The Jazz was coming off a round one win against the Grizzlies and was looking to make a statement in Game 1 at home against one of the better teams in the west and that is exactly what they did.
Mitchell scored an amazing 45 points, which were enough to boost the Jazz to a critical Game 1 victory even with Mike Conley sidelined to steal a win by a final score of 112-109.
According to Bleacher Report, “While Mitchell spearheaded the effort, it was Rudy Gobert’s block on a Marcus Morris Sr. three-pointer in the final seconds that clinched the win.” Even with a solid showing from Kawhi Leonard (23 points) it just was not enough to take the win on the road.
The absence of Conley was a major topic of discussion as tipoff drew closer and never was his presence missed more than in the first quarter. The Jazz went on to miss a stifling 21-consecutive field goal attempts. While Mitchell is the go-to guy, Conley is the one who sets up plays, controls the pace, and creates shots for himself and his team. This led to the Jazz’s offense completely falling apart against a Clippers team that can send some of the NBA’s best defenders at any team.
Donovan Mitchell leads Jazz to Game 1 win over Clippers
Mitchell and Clarkson were also much more aggressive with Conley out and Joe Ingles facilitated the ball to keep his team within striking distance despite the rocky start.
It would be safe to say without the efforts mentioned above the game would have been over by halftime. But instead, Donovan Mitchell put his team on his back with an impressive array of deep threes and drives to the basket late in the third quarter to give the Jazz their first lead of the second half along with occasional threes from the sixth man of the year Jordan Clarkson and a great assist to Royce O’Neale whose defensive presence in the Clippers backcourt was key to the win.
All in all Game 1 was a much-watch and hopefully, that’s how the rest of the series goes with the winner going on to play in the Western Conference Finals. If anything it should be interesting with the Clippers already having played in a win-or-go-home game against Dallas in the first round. That being said, it is a long series and anything could happen.