Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell went off for 36 points, seven rebounds and five assists in a 129-118 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night. But after the game, Mitchell faced an awkward interview with Shaquille O'Neal and TNT's “Inside the NBA” crew, with Shaq bringing up the Jazz guard's inability to take his game to the next level. This came after a lengthy conversation during the halftime show about Mitchell's potential.

Mitchell didn't seem too happy with the comments, giving a simple “aight” as a response. Naturally, Mitchell's Jazz teammates stood up for their guy in the aftermath, with one of the best defenders in the league and another target of Shaq's ire, Rudy Gobert, expertly coming to Spida's defense:

Jazz veteran Mike Conley was also peeved at the remarks:

Georges Niang and Miye Oni both took to Twitter to express their anger:

Mitchell himself was asked about the interview when he talked to the media later after the game, and he tried to deflect:

“We’ve won seven in a row. I hate to take a win like this and make it about me. … I’m here to play basketball and to win and to be the best teammate I can be. If they don’t like it, they don’t like it.”

As Mitchell mentioned, the Jazz are on a roll right now with their seven-game winning streak. After a somewhat uneven start to the season, Utah is 11-4 and near the top of the rugged Western Conference.

Mitchell is averaging 24.3 points, 4.9 assists and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 43.8% from the field and 40.8% on 3-pointers. The Jazz star enjoyed a massive breakout in the NBA bubble, and now he's trying to get his team to that next level. He certainly has plenty of motivation now after this incident.