Utah Jazz: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Thunder

2. Donovan Mitchell is legit

The heading pretty much says it all, and despite the Jazz dropping Game 1, Donovan Mitchell still deserves his own slide. The 21-year-old rookie may have been playing in his first official playoff game, but he looked like a veteran in his 100th. While the Jazz’s offense sputtered at times, Mitchell did everything in his power to keep them afloat.

He would start the game like this…

… and finish the game with 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting, including 3-of-7 from deep. Toss in 10 rebounds, two steals and one block, and that’s a pretty impressive playoff debut.

It was already mentioned how Mitchell looked at ease out there tonight, but don’t take my word for it — take a look at this play in the second quarter:

Jae Crowder has the ball and is pushing it in transition, and finds Mitchell on the wing. Instead of driving and kicking to Gobert — a viable option considering he blows by his defender Corey Brewer, forcing Gobert to cheat over to prevent the layup — he takes it himself, and Euro-steps between Brewer and Adams; taking it right at Adams and finishing the shot.

Does that look like a rookie to you?