Having Donovan Mitchell made a huge difference for the Jazz offense

We briefly mentioned the impact Donovan Mitchell had in the first-quarter of play, but over the course of the game, he really made an impact for the Jazz because of the attention he drew. He is arguably the best player talent wise in this series and as a result, he drew a lot of attention away from guys like Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley on the wing, allowing them to be more aggressive scoring options like they were during the regular season. 

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Mitchell finished the game playing 26 total minutes and scoring 25 points on 8-19 shooting from the floor, including 5-10 from three-point range. Having Mitchell as the athletic facilitator that he is was huge for the Jazz in this game and his health moving forward is going to be the key for Utah. 

He needs to be healthy for them to have any shot of advancing far in the Western Conference this year and given the scoring output he can give his team, Donovan Mitchell returning to the court in Game 2 was the biggest difference for the Jazz from Game 1. 

They were not making their three-point shots in Game 1 because of the attention guys like Conley and Bogdanovic drew, but in Game 2, with Mitchell on the court and the offense more relaxed/spread out, they were able to hit a total of 19 three-pointers. 

Who knows if Donovan Mitchell is at 100% or not, but nonetheless, as long as he is on the court, it is hard to bet against the Jazz in this series.