Thanks in large part to Donovan Mitchell's 33-point performance in Monday night's 113-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Utah Jazz find themselves up three games to one in their Western Conference quarterfinal series. Though he's only a rookie, Mitchell managed to break a record held by one of the greatest players in Jazz history: Karl Malone.
Mitchell logged 39 minutes in Monday night's game, scoring 33 points on 13-28 shooting from the field (3-8 from beyond the arc), seven rebounds, four assists and one block. With those 33 big ones, the former University of Louisville standout set a new franchise record for most points scored by a rookie in the postseason (Malone had 31 points for UTA on 4/20/86 at DAL). According to ESPN, Mitchell is the first rookie to have a 30-point playoff game since Brandon Jennings did it in 2010. He's now just the third rookie in the last 50 years to score 110-plus points in his first four playoff games (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan).
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“He's done a good job of getting in there and finishing or dropping it off,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder told ESPN after Monday night's game. “It's an important part of what we do. He's our most dynamic offensive player.”
Mitchell spoke with the media following Monday's win with regards to passing Malone's record.
“It's definitely an honor to have a record like that,” Mitchell said. “Definitely an honor. No doubt about that, but we have one more game, so I'm focused on that.”
Wednesday night's Game 5 matchup is set to tip inside Chesapeake Energy Arena at 9:30 p.m. EST. Until then, have a go at some of Mitchell's highlights from Game 4.
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