Utah Jazz: Top 10 moments from 2017-18 NBA season

7. Donovan Mitchell explodes against the Pelicans

Despite his amazing showings through the early part of the season, Mitchell still had his ups and downs on the floor. Although he averaged 15.3 points per game through his first 22 games of the season, Mitchell was converting at just a 39.2 percent clip from the field in his 28.6 minutes per game on the floor.

So it was safe too say very few people could foresee the absolute explosion Mitchell exhibited against the New Orleans Pelicans on Dec. 1. In just his 23rd career game, Mitchell poured in 41 points on 13-of-25 shooting from the field, including hitting 6-of-12 from long range.

Matched up against recently named NBA All-Defensive First Team selection Jrue Holiday, Mitchell scored from a variety of spots on the floor.

Following the game, even Mitchell was in awe of his performance:

https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/936980796371374080

With Jazz trailing 84-80 entering the fourth quarter, the rookie simply put the team on his back, scoring 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field as the Jazz pulled away for the 114-108 win.

Following the game, coach Snyder tried to downplay comparing Mitchell at this early stage to the likes of LeBron James and Kevin Durant, who also scored at least 40 points in a game as a rookie:

"“Let’s stop before comparing him to LeBron and KD, those are the elite of the elites….Donovan had a big night, and I’m not diminishing it, but I think one of the things about Donovan is that he’s got his head on straight, and he knows it was a big night….Some of it what he did tonight was a function of the fact that he’s studied it, he’s worked at it, and as a result his reads were really good.”"

While keeping things low-key is a wise move from Snyder, further performances such as these by Mitchell are going to make it more and more difficult to avoid these inevitable comparisons.