LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – Just minutes after Donovan Mitchell was lying face down on the field inside the AdventHealth Arena, he dropped in front of a camera, his eyes still red from the tears he shed after he his Utah Jazz saw the end of the season Tuesday night with a heartbreaking 80-78 defeat to the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of their first-round NBA playoff series.
But while Mitchell said he was devastated by the way things slipped away from the Jazz, after they not only had a 3-1 lead in this series but were led by 15 points in the second half of Game 5, he was proud that his team survived. everything that has passed in the last few months.
He was also ready to go back to work.
“We are ready to fight anything,” said Mitchell, who had 22 points in Game 7 but only shot 9 of 22 and also had nine turnovers, including one with less than 10 seconds left. “It’s always been like that. It’s a character thing to go back to the way we did. We are ready to compete through anything. For me … I can’t lie to you, I was surprised at some little things I’ve done and accomplished. But not. it’s nothing I haven’t worked on. There has been criticism of what I could do on the offensive and defensive side, and I feel like I’ve taken a step in the right direction.
“This is not the last. This is me scratching the surface. I know what I can do, how hard I have worked, how hard this team has worked. This will not be the end. This is what is feeding me. This is not the end. This is just the beginning. I’m ready to play again right now. I think we all are. This is just the beginning. “
It was right that the Jazz season ended in a game 7 which came to the last second overall. The final sequence saw Nuggets guard Gary Harris take the ball away from Mitchell with 8.4 seconds left, only for Denver’s Torrey Craig to miss out on a potential win layup at the other end, allowing Jazz guard Mike Conley one last shot. to win the series – – only for his 3-point attempt to drop in half before rimming.
As he did, Mitchell – who became one of four players to score at least 50 points twice in a playoff series, along with Denver’s Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Jamal Murray, who also did in this series – collapsed. in a heap on the field.
“To be honest, me [was] shocked, “Mitchell said shaking his head, describing what he was going through at the time.” That’s all. You work so hard to get to where we have come, and we were so close. We were on the ground, we went back, we fought and clawed, and to be so close … it hurt.
“I didn’t know what else to do. I was exhausted. I just lay there … yuck. This will be on my mind for a long time.”
It’s been grueling months for Utah, going back to that March night in Oklahoma City when the NBA universe came to a halt after Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Mitchell did too, shortly thereafter, and by the end of the night the NBA season had been suspended.
So much has happened since then, including the resumption of the NBA season in the championship bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort and that resumption that nearly came to an end last week when players chose not to compete in the wake of the 29 police shooting. Jacob Blake of years, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Mitchell said he was happy with how he was able to use his platform to push for the change he wants to see in the world. He also said he hopes that as the playoffs continue, the NBA – and the players who are still playing inside the bubble – will continue to do the same.
“The most important thing is to keep pushing and using your voice,” he said. “At the end of the day, we came here for a reason. Obviously, to win a championship, but also to continue the message. We stopped playing and continued to play because we wanted to continue preaching our message. I am very happy with that. how things have turned out to the point where we can get back on track and we, the NBA and the owners agree on certain things. I hope that as these playoffs and everyone watch we continue to push for what is truly needed in this world, man .
“I feel like I have used my voice in the best possible way, and I will continue to use my voice at home. I implore everyone here – they did a great job – to keep pushing. The more these matches intensify and get closer to the finals. , I hope the kids keep using their voices, because people listen and things are starting to change, and we have to move on. “
The Jazz, however, had a lot of internal issues to deal with, including not only Gobert and Mitchell testing positive for coronavirus, but also second top scorer Bojan Bogdanovic who lost the bubble entirely due to wrist surgery.
However, Utah probably should have won this series, having skipped the leads in both games 1 and 5, and with game 7 not decided until the final buzzer sounded.
All of this, coupled with everything Utah had to go through to get to this point, made the loss even more difficult for everyone involved to accept.
“This game tonight was one of the hardest losses I have been involved in,” said Jazz manager Quin Snyder. “We have gone through many levels [with] what this team has been through since we were in Oklahoma City and the season has been stopped. What we’ve been through over a period of months, to have this group come back together here in Orlando, and just to see the competitiveness, the altruism, a team that has really come together and grown, and I wish we had the chance to keep playing. I think that’s the thing that hurts the most right now. “
Pain was etched all over Mitchell’s face after the game, after his overdue turnover helped cost Utah the chance to at least send the game into overtime, if not win it. It was an unfortunate ending for a wonderful series for him, personally, but it also became one of the many things that Mitchell thinks it could have gone differently and allowed the Jazz to move up to face the LA Clippers in the second round.
“We shouldn’t even have been in this situation,” Mitchell said. “That’s where a lot of the emotions come from. There are so many things we can go to as a unit. I think that’s what hurts the most. We can go to my 8 second violation in Race 1, we can go to blow with 15 points of advantage in Race 5, we can go to not match their level in Race 6 … but yes. There are so many things I think we could have done, and we didn’t. I think that’s where the pain really comes.
“I just didn’t think we should be in Game 7. We’ve had more opportunities to put them away, and they’ve capitalized, and they’ve experience, they’ve played Game 7 and moments like this, and I have to give them credit. But there are a few things to it. which you look back on and we could definitely have capitalized on not being in this position. But we’ll fix it. “
However, Mitchell said the growth the team showed internally from where it was in the spring was something to be proud of.
“We went from being a hopeless team about three months ago to this one,” Mitchell said. “And I don’t think anyone but us expected it.”
Gobert, meanwhile, was immense for the Jazz in Game 7, finishing with 19 points, 18 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in 39 minutes. He said he was grateful that his teammates have been by his side after everything that has happened in recent months and said this is just one stop on Utah’s path to winning a championship.
“A lot of adversity, not just for me, but for all of us,” Gobert said, when asked how the last six months have been for him. “As a team, also for the world. It’s been an interesting months. I’m proud of how we managed it as a team, as human beings.
“A few months ago, mentally I was not in the right space to go out and play with my team, but we found a way to make it happen. To have the support of my teammates in the last months since the bubble and everything that has happened to me. he really relieved. “
“I gave everything I could for this team,” explained Gobert. “We failed, but I have no doubt that we will win a championship.”
.
