"Donovan Mitchell deserves some culpability... They got Jalen Brunson looking like Luka Doncic" - Stephen A. Smith believes whatever can go wrong, does go wrong for the Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz and their latest loss to the Dallas Mavericks was mentioned during Friday’s episode of “First Take” on ESPN. During the episode, Stephen A. Smith joined Kendrick Perkins to talk about Game 3 between Utah and Dallas.
Smith stated:
“The Utah Jazz always find a way to not live up to expectations. This is what they’ve done and Donovan Mitchell deserves some culpability for that because he’s been there while it has happened.”
The Utah Jazz finished the 2021-22 regular season in fifth place in the Western Conference with 49 wins to 33 losses. As a result, they were placed up against the Luka Doncic and his Dallas Mavericks for the first round of the playoffs.
Unfortunately, the round has not panned out well for Utah. With their latest 126-118 loss to Dallas, the Mavericks have taken the lead of the series 2-1. Donovan Mitchell did what he could during the Game 3 performance as he finished with 32 points, two rebounds, and six assists. Mitchell had an outstanding offensive performance and the Jazz still lost to a Mavericks squad without Luka Doncic. So what happened?
Jalen Brunson happened. Brunson finished the game with 31 points for the Mavericks, helping carry some of the weight left on the floor without Doncic. In Game 2 of the series, where Dallas caught their first victory, again without Luka, Jalen had another notable performance. Brunson finished the second game of this series with 41 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Jalen’s 41 points is the highest points scored from any player in the Dallas-Utah series so far.
Stephen A. Smith comments on Brunson:
“They got Jalen Brunson looking like Luka Doncic. The Utah Jazz, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. This is what they do.”
The Utah Jazz have been in the playoffs 30 times, across their 48-season existence. The team has never won the NBA Finals. They have only made it to the Conference Finals 6 times, and the NBA Finals twice. Utah lost to the Chicago Bulls both years in the Finals (1996-97, 1997-98). The Jazz have not been to the NBA Conference Finals since their 2006-07 loss to the Spurs.
With Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert running the floor together, the squad has looked like more dominant contenders. The squad had a good run during the 2020-21 season, but that ended in a 2-4 loss to the Clippers in the Conference Semi-Finals.
Donovan Mitchell finished the 2021-22 NBA season having averaged 25.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game across 67 appearances. Mitchell was a large contributing factor in the success of Utah this season, if not the largest.
For Game 1 of this year's playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, Mitchell dropped 32 points, six assists, and six rebounds. For Game 2 he finished with 34 points, five assists, and two rebounds.
Rudy Gobert has been an assisting factor as well. Gobert averaged 15.6 points, 14.7 rebounds (highest 2021-22 season average), and 1.1 assists per game. Contributing on defense as well, Rudy averaged 0.7 steals and 2.2 blocks per game.
Regardless of the pair's contributions, Stephen A. Smith believes it does not matter. The Utah Jazz will inevitably ruin their own chance according to him.