Rudy Gobert has been receiving some flak for the Utah Jazz's early postseason exit amid their stellar regular season. Fans expected Gobert to literally swat every shot hurled at him, especially after snagging his third Defensive Player of the Year plum. Obviously, this wasn't the case as the Jazz got manhandled by the Los Angeles Clippers in just six games in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. A closer look at some numbers may reveal that while Gobert had some shortcomings, Donovan Mitchell too may be the culprit for the Jazz's misfortunes.
There's no denying Mitchell's numbers. He has shown remarkable improvement in almost every statistical category. This is simply a testament to his hard work and perseverance. No doubt, Mitchell is one of the most important players of Quinn Snyder. However, Mitchell's performance suddenly dwindles in the fourth quarter.
Low shooting numbers
In the NBA Playoffs, Mitchell shot a horrible 35.6 percent from the field in the fourth quarter, which ranked 150th in the league. For comparison, elite players like Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Ja Morant, CJ McCollum, and Trae Young all shot between 40 to 70 percent in the fourth quarter. Leonard shot a ridiculous 67.6 percent in the final frame.
From behind the arc, Mitchell's percentage plummeted to 28.6 percent in the fourth period. Again for comparison, Kyrie Irving and James Harden shot 60 percent and 55.6 percent, respectively in the closing quarter. Damian Lillard, who led the NBA with 3.6 attempts from deep, still shot 38.9 percent.
The Jazz's series with the Clippers was Mitchell's worst performance. Yes, he was still his team's leading scorer with 29.0 points per game, but he shot horrendously from the field at 36.4 percent, including 29.4 percent from three-point distance. Everyone has to perform well in the fourth quarter. But if you're considered the franchise star of your team, then you're held to much higher standards. The likes of Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles had better numbers in the fourth period compared to Mitchell.
Questionable decisions
Apart from numbers, Donovan Mitchell doesn't seem to have mastered the art of decision-making just yet. There were several times in the Clippers series where Tyronn Lue sent a double-team as soon as Mitchell crossed the halfcourt line. Mitchell panicked on numerous occasions, resulting in turnovers and fastbreak opportunities for the Clippers.
Mitchell actually averaged 0.8 turnovers in the fourth quarter, which is pretty high for a scoring guard like him. In fact, he had a 1.96 assists-to-turnover ratio in the postseason, ranked 54th among guards. His teammate Ingles had 4.22. Among active players in the NBA Playoffs, Paul has the best ratio with a ridiculous 4.35.
It may sound like we're nitpicking by deliberately choosing statistics where Mitchell doesn't do well in. That can only be true if we didn't indicate the statistics of other players—opposing superstars and his teammates—in the categories discussed. As noted earlier, Mitchell has done good work in his first four years in the NBA. It's very rare to see someone come out of the gates and immediately become a key part of a team's title hopes.
However, the glaring fourth quarter numbers suggest that Mitchell may have to set up his offseason training regimen specifically for late-game battles. From the looks of it, this is the only weakness in his game so far. Snyder understands that he can't assign Mitchell to a traditional point guard role. As a scoring guard, Donovan Mitchell needs to score with efficiency—and that includes all four quarters.
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