Jazz Star Donovan Mitchell Breaks The Record Set by Steph Curry During 2016 NBA Playoffs

Utah Jazz failed to capitalize their 3-1 lead against the Denver Nuggets in round 1 of NBA Playoffs 2020. All the hard work from star Donovan Mitchell went in vain. They lost three games in a row and gave away the series. This has now placed the Nuggets standing against the LA Clippers in round 2.

Still, the Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets remained the most enthralling series in the post-season so far. The battle gave birth to several records set by the star players from both the teams. A couple of 50-point games by Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell ensured that the series gets enough attention. Game 7, although a low-scoring match-up, also lived to that expectation.

Both Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets players star on the NBA Playoffs record list

Going down the memory lane, the year 2016 gave the NBA a whole new avatar. It was the year of three-pointers where the Golden State Warriors changed the paradigm by introducing a new style of play. They had the Splash Brothers (Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson) who became synonymous with shooting from downtown. It was as if behind-the-arc was the new paint for them. It now seems that we have two more players who have their eyes on repeating history. Consider this-

The statistics show how these two 23-year-olds have taken up the challenge to give the game more pace with their three-point shooting. Jamal Murray has a 3P% of 53.3 against an almost identical 51.6% of Donovan Mitchell. In fact, almost every figure from the post-season matches very closely for these two opponents.

Enjoy this video from Donovan’s rookie year’s three-point heroics. Here, he gave us an early clue of what was coming from him-

Game 7- An ironical ending for the three-point success of Donovan Mitchell

In  Game 7, the Boston Celtics were 50-31 ahead with 1 minute remaining in the first half. At that point, it seemed as if they will easily have a one-sided victory in a dull knockout game. But Donovan Mitchell heated up in the 3rd quarter and the Jazz stormed back. Also, it was a quite night for guard Mike Conley Jr. until the last quarter. 

Moreover, for the Jazz, Rudy Gobert had a timely play at both ends. He scored a double-double with 19 points and 18 rebounds. The score was tied at 74-74 when Jamal Murray got 4 points for the Nuggets. They later again tied at 78-78 when Nuggets took a two-point lead, making it 80-78. In the end, Donovan Mitchell had the ball with under 10 seconds remaining but had a terrible turnover. Jamal Murray received the ball, but the Nuggets failed to shoot it too. Finally, Gobert got the rebound and passed the ball to the trustworthy hands of Mike Conley as he failed a buzzer-beater three-pointer by probably millimeters.

We later saw a sobbing Donovan Mitchell who, despite being the frontrunner in the race of three-pointer, failed to make it count when it was the most required. Had Gobert passed the ball to Mitchell, maybe the ending would be different.