And so, the Utah Jazz season comes to an end. It was fun, everybody. I would be more emotional, but I keep thinking about how if the Jazz had kept Nate Wolters things would’ve been different, and that thought makes me upset.
Things also would’ve been different if Donovan Mitchell had distributed his scoring more evenly throughout the game. 22 points in the third quarter was sweet, but 2 points in the first two quarters wasn’t as sweet. And then he got injured. Ouch! Tough way to end the season, having to watch from the sideline in flip-flops.
An examination of the available footage of the injury by yours truly revealed some sad details that I am, nonetheless, forced to share with you. Short version: it’s bad. Long version: advanced forensic frame-by-frame analysis revealed that chunks of Mitchell’s kneecap were exploding out from his body at approximately 150 miles per hour. One of the larger patellar fragments hit a fan in the face, causing further mayhem. The Jazz, the NBA, and the commentators tried to play it off like it wasn’t an extremely serious injury, but it was. No doubt.
If this isn’t the end of Mitchell’s NBA career, at least it’s the end of his time on DownToBuck’s Highlights Emporium. He won’t be a rookie anymore when he returns, and he’s already a star in the eyes of many. Realistically, I should’ve stopped the highlights of him months ago. But he’s so fun! Way more fun than Ben Simmons, just saying, and I’m also just saying that he’s my ROY of the Year no matter what anyone else says.
So there.