Donovan Mitchell spent his first-ever playoff series incinerating both his defenders and every reasonable expectation for even the most precocious rookie. In pouring in 28.5 ppg on 46 percent shooting from the floor and 36 percent from three, Mitchell managed serious volume without loss of efficiency. The Thunder were…

With Ricky Rubio out, Utah’s long, long specimen Dante Exum was stuck with one of the most frustrating defensive assignments in basketball: James Harden and the 1,001 dribbles. The stringy Australian has spent just over half of his NBA career injured, but in those healthy stretches has shown serious defensive acumen,…

Ricky Rubio, who looks like the very happiest bearded child in that damn photo up there, will reportedly not be available for Game 1 of Jazz-Rockets, to be played Sunday afternoon in Houston. The hamstring injury that sidelined him for most of the final game of Utah’s series-clinching win over OKC will apparently need…

The Utah Jazz dispatched the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday night, closing out the first round series with a narrow and vaguely controversial victory on Utah’s home floor behind more stout defense and just enough shot-making from their various role-players. Donovan Mitchell was fantastic, dropping in 38 points on 26…

Once the Thunder were down 3-1, the Russell Westbrook obituaries had already begun to roll in; down 25, the eulogizers had probably started dipping their quills back in purple. What we’d already heard many times over was going to be repeated once again, at blaring, self-satisfied volume: You can’t win with Russell…

The Thunder weren’t supposed to get this one. Down 3-1 in their first-round series against the Jazz, and down by as many as 25 points as late as the middle of the third quarter tonight, this elimination game felt pretty damn close to a foregone conclusion. Until it felt like something else—a ridiculous comeback,…

If you want a tangible explanation for why the Oklahoma City Thunder are down 3-1 in their playoff series against the Jazz and seem destined for a first-round exit, take your pick: Rudy Gobert has effectively canceled out Russell Westbrook’s ability to drive to the hoop; Russell Westbrook has no jumper; it’s been six…

It can be a little disorienting to remind yourself that grim and gritty Ricky Rubio, the veteran point guard of the Utah Jazz, has played exactly the same number of playoff games over the course of his NBA career as Donovan Mitchell has. Rubio, whose transformation from doe-eyed, baby-faced sidekick to leathery,…

To refresh your memory, Steven Adams rammed in an alley-oop in Game 1 of the Thunder’s playoff series against the Jazz that made a satisfying thunk, but also rendered his right arm unusable. It just sort of hung there for awhile.

After bruising his foot in Game 1, Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell insisted that he’d suit up for Game 2, despite having to play through a personally unprecedented amount of pain to do so. He didn’t seem very limited in his second-ever playoff game when he got a steal and scored on the first possession of the game, then…

The Thunder won the first game in their series against the Jazz on Sunday, thanks in large part to the dominance of Paul George. But if you’re looking for someone in Utah with the ability to rise to George and Russell Westbrook’s level and keep this series competitive, look no further than rookie guard Donovan…

Tonight, anyone watching the NBA will get to see the closest possible regular-season equivalent of a play-in game when the Denver Nuggets travel to Minnesota to play the T-Wolves for the last playoff spot. Both clubs are 46-35, and Minnesota leads the season series 2-1, though a 100-96 win last week kept the Nuggets’…

Red alert: The sniping between Philly’s Ben Simmons and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell over who should be the NBA Rookie of the Year has reached “Custom Hoodie” status.

The Jazz and Warriors are playing out a pretty goofy end-of-season game in which Golden State is very much not going at 100 percent and Utah is taking advantage. No moment has been sillier, though, than Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell making reigning defensive player of the year Draymond Green look utterly broken, with a…

One thing about being on an NBA team that’s rounding into the home stretch of a miserable tanking campaign is that it can make you cranky as hell. As evidence, please see the shenanigans the Suns got into with the Jazz last night.

The New Orleans Pelicans came apart over the last, oh, 13 minutes or so of last night’s game and wound up losing pretty one-sidedly to the Utah Jazz, at home. Please do not let that distract you too much from the hilarious wonder of Anthony Davis’s 25-point, 11-rebound, 10-block triple double.

In the fourth quarter of Friday night’s Jazz win over the Timberwolves, Jeff Teague tracked Ricky Rubio in transition up the left sideline and randomly checked him into the row of courtside seats. The penalty for Teague was a scolding from Jazz forward Jae Crowder, and a Flagrant 2 foul, and an ejection, with five…

Rodney Hood was decidedly not happy about being ejected from a close Wizards-Jazz game after picking up his second technical at the end of the third quarter tonight. He wasn’t interested in a photo opp, either:

Jazz center Rudy Gobert, one of the very few players in the NBA whose defensive work rises to the level of nightly spectacle, has suffered his second knee injury of the season, and will now be out another three to four weeks. This blows: