Thunder’s Lu Dort gets three-quarters better from Donovan Mitchell – then Mitchell gets the last laugh

1. Donovan Mitchell – finally – the game against Lu Dort comes out in the last six minutes

It was one of the worst games of Donovan Mitchell’s career. Well, for three and a half quarters.

After a 3-15 start from the field, Mitchell made five of his next eight shots to take the Jazz to victory. Indeed, those baskets, and a few free throws, were the only 12 points the Jazz scored in the last six minutes of the game, keeping them afloat on the offensive side of the floor.

Throughout he was largely defended by Thunder, sophomore Lu Dort, already considered one of the most important defenders in the NBA. And Dort really put him down, just like we’ve seen a defender hold Mitchell down. I mean, this is beautiful – Mitchell eventually ends up under him for a scoop, but he’s far enough from the basket that it’s really hard.

I think the turning point came when Dort started to get a little tired. Take a look at this play: Mitchell is just running the track, but so is Dort. He never gets fully in front, and the imbalance gives Mitchell an easy open pull-up.

Dort was also a bit careless about the winner of the game. Conley is driving, and Dort turns his body away from Mitchell, creating a bit of separation. Mitchell gets the kick-out from Conley and Dort has to jump far on the perimeter to try to stay attached. The moment Dort steps forward, Mitchell takes advantage of the lost balance by driving towards the paint.

It was exciting stuff, with things to learn for both players. Mitchell was clearly trying too much on Dort early on, even passing a few open looks to get some contentious. But Dor’s focus in the last six minutes ended up costing his team the game, even with a brilliant 42 minutes before.

2. Mike Conley, saving the Jazz

Mike Conley had 20 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists on Monday-evening – one of the Jazz’s best chances to date to finally hit a triple double of the regular season.

Remember, the Jazz hasn’t had any of them since Carlos Boozer put it in 2008 against the Seattle Supersonics, which remains my favorite current running Jazz stat. I mean, the NBA has now seen average player triple doubles, and some really awful players have picked up one. It somehow still dodges a Jazzman in regular season action.

Regardless, Conley appeared to be the only man not confused at the start of the match as Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic struggled to open the match. With the ball in his hands, the Jazz got some really good assets, like this Gobert alley:

You can see Conley set up rookie guard Theo Maledon there with ease. Move to the baseline, lose him on the screen, know he’ll be late for the rotation, and bam, an alley.

I think Conley will face a lot of situations like this this season. The truth is, it is very difficult to guard Mitchell, Bogdanovic and Conley all with good defenders; and Conley is likely to get some match-ups against a team’s third best perimeter defender. (Royce O’Neale will likely get the fourth best defender.) If Conley can win those matchups consistently, the Jazz will always have an answer to go offensive.

On Monday, Conley’s game was the difference between holding on to the rope and losing it completely, giving his teammates time to climb with him. In the end, the result was another once-in-a-dec-year result: the Oklahoma City Jazz’s first regular season win since 2010.

3. Risk versus reward in auxiliary defense

One reason the Jazz was at real risk of losing this game was poor perimeter defense. At times it seemed like it could be a strategic choice – the Jazz isn’t the only team that chose to ignore Lu Dort to help against the Thunder’s drivetrains, and other teams will no doubt try too.

But I think it’s a calculation that the Jazz was a bit too eager and repeatedly gave up wide-open threes to the Thunder. Yes, the Thunder has some weak perimeter shooters, but giving up open threes, even to questionable shooters, can be mathematically worse compared to some disputed interior stuff.

The Thunder actually took advantage of this during their very first run of the game. Darius Bazley puts a super low screen on Mitchell in front of his teammate Dort, and while it would be much easier to just get over it and follow Dort, Mitchell still falls. The result is an open three.

Or this play, in which Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neale all collapse on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Ultimately, O’Neale and Mitchell collided, but Mitchell was probably too far from the strong side angle to get a solid match anyway. Al Horford is also open about the stretch, and even Jordan Clarkson takes a step towards SGA in response to the ride.

Well, maybe I’m overreacting to a 5-7 3-point shooting night from Dort; it may not happen again. But he was a 35.7% 3-point shooter on wide open shots last year, which equates to 107 points per 100 possessions – pretty good for half the job! The extra rotations away from him seem counterproductive.

I once had an NBA coach tell you that the name of the defensive play in the league was to minimize rotations: Obviously, open drives to the edge are bad, but if you can reduce the number of times, you have to go outside inward, you will be in better shape during possession.

The main benefit of having Gobert in your roster is that it’s that paint protector so the perimeter guys don’t necessarily have to leave their man. Gobert did his job inside, but I think that due to the decisions of the Jazz, the Thunder too often found space on the outside.