J
Jordan Cummings
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Impressive comeback win & career high propel Donovan into the spotlight yet again
For the second time this season, Donovan Mitchell’s stellar play has earned him Player of the Week honors for the Western Conference. He first earned the award on January 14, when he averaged 31.5 points, 5.8 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1 block, and 0.8 steals per game on 48.4% from the field, 48.6% from 3, and 81.8% from the free throw line.
Donovan joins Steph Curry (2x), Kawhi Leonard (2x), James Harden (3x), Paul George (3x), Nikola Jokic (3x), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (6x!!!) as the only other players to earn Player of the Week honors multiple times this season. Not bad for a 2nd year player who takes terrible shots, doesn’t defend, and who is resented by his teammates.
Utah’s own Eric Woodyard broke the news on twitter:
Utah Jazz Star Donovan Mitchell has been named Western Conference Player of the Week.
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) March 4, 2019
From the team’s official news release about the award (the article incorrectly states that Donovan scored 17 4th quarter points - he scored 19 in the 4th quarter along with 3 assists and 1 rebound):
In three games last week, Mitchell averaged 34.0 points on 46.6 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three-point range. He also averaged 5 rebounds and 5 assists, helping the Jazz to a 3-0 record with wins over the Clippers, Nuggets and Bucks.
Donovan is the first Jazz player to win the award twice in the same season since Carlos Boozer in 2009-10. It’s safe to say that Donovan has played his way out of his own sophomore slump, and he’ll continue to improve down the final stretch of the season. The 3rd seed in the West is realistically within reach.
After winning last night's game, Utah Jazz seed probabilities from @inpredict:
2: 15%
3: 32%
4: 25%
5: 17%
6: 10%
7: 1%
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) March 3, 2019
Inpredict gives Utah a 72% chance of home court advantage for round 1 of the playoffs. Stealing the 3rd seed for the postseason would be huge, as Utah’s playoff matchups would likely be much better (though it depends on how the Nuggets and Warriors are seeded by season’s end).
Hopefully the excellent play of Donovan - and the rest of the team - continue for the final 20 games of the season.
#TakeNote
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