As Donovan Mitchell’s sprained ankle lingered on for several weeks, Utah Jazz fans became increasingly nervous about his availability at all for the start of the playoffs and/or how rusty he’ll be after not getting to work his way back into game shape with some late regular-season games.
For much of that time, I’ve had people reaching out to me looking for insight on his status, and I always repeated what little I knew: The organizational expectation is that he’d be good to go for the playoffs.
And yet, while Thursday’s announcement that he had, indeed, gone through a full practice with the team was largely met with jubilation from Jazz Nation, there were also those who went searching for bad news, and who latched on to every little nuance and phrasing he gave in his interview in order to find some.
So let’s address his most noteworthy comments and see if there is real cause for concern, or if maybe these are some overreactions:
• “I got out there and competed — definitely you could tell it was the first time in four or five weeks. But that’s to be expected. Just trying to find ways to get back in the groove, get back in full shape. I feel like I’m getting there — things are progressing well.”
It’s obviously not ideal that Donovan’s first extended workout and practice with the team came just three days before the Jazz’s playoff opener. You’d have liked for him to have a longer run-up, just to get his timing back. And, as he notes (and as Mike Conley noted previously), game shape is different from practice shape. But he sounds optimistic that the timing won’t prove an impediment, that he’ll be good to go.
• “It definitely was a tough process for me. I haven’t been out this long since my 10th grade year in high school. … I’ve been progressing well for the past two weeks, I wanna say. You gotta quote me on that, but I could be wrong. … The injury wasn’t something to play with — it wasn’t as minor as it was made out to be.”
This is the one that really got some people’s wheels spinning. Lots of media outlets, including me, reported originally that Donovan had avoided major injury and would likely miss just a few games. He wound up sitting out the last 16 of the regular season. I’ll reiterate — my info came from a source who absolutely, unequivocally had knowledge of the extent of the injury. This wasn’t a sandbagging situation, merely a reminder that soft-tissue injuries are tricky business. It took longer than everyone thought it would. And now it’s better.
• “Definitely sore. You know, I haven’t played in, what, five weeks? But, thankfully, no pain. That’s the good part for me. Now I’m just trying to stack these days on top of each other.”
Soreness is expected in his first intense activity in more than a month. That’s a natural byproduct of his time off. But him distinguishing between soreness and pain is important. If the latter existed, there would be cause for concern. Now the issue becomes, as he said, going through multiple consecutive days without experiencing that.
• “I haven’t had that conversation as far as allotment of minutes. … I don’t want to go out there and go full-bore and hurt it again. … I haven’t had that conversation to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I’m ready to play 48. I mean, I feel like I’m ready to play 48. But at the end of the day, you gotta be smart, as well.”
This one should assuage some fears. He’s made it clear that he’s not going to overdo it or put himself in a situation where he could reinjure the ankle, but at the same time he’s making it clear that he believes his ankle is healthy enough that he could play an entire game if necessary. There’s zero chance that’ll happen, but the sentiment is telling.
Be prepared to lose your minds about foul calls/non-calls
Watching the Lakers-Warriors play-in game Wednesday night, it was fascinating to observe online in real time both teams’ fanbases complaining about how the refs were biased against them and were clearly looking to cost them the game.
The no-call as Alex Caruso got smacked in the head and fell to the court on a layup attempt. L.A. getting Golden State into the penalty inside of three minutes in the third quarter. The flagrant/non-flagrant Draymond/LeBron meeting that was either the perfect embodiment of the Warriors star once again being allowed to get away with murder or the Lakers star once again flopping and acting and cajoling his way to an undeserved call, depending on your perspective.
On a related note, Quin Snyder wants the Jazz — and their fans — to be prepared for physicality to get ramped up and for whistles to be swallowed in the playoffs.
“I’d like for us to be determined — determined to execute every possession and being able to have that mindset, particularly when teams are so well-prepared against you and trying to take things away,” Quin said. “It’s a test of your will to play through contact, [and] if the game’s not being called as closely as it might be in a January game, to adjust to everything.”
Random musings
• I, being fully vaccinated, took the plunge and went to a bar the other day to hang out for a few hours with a friend I’ve known since my college days. It felt wonderfully, blissfully normal. Related note: Shades Brewery’s sour beers are excellent, IMO.
• The play-in tournament was a ton of fun. Well, maybe not so much the 9 vs. 10 games. But otherwise, good stuff, and I look forward to more next season.
• Any baseball fans out there? Did your team just lose its young, rising star pitcher for multiple months because he got mad about one bad game and punched the dugout bench and broke his pitching hand? Mine did. Deepest of sighs.
• Some gambling website has been sending me emails letting me know that, according to their data, the Brooklyn Nets are the most-hated team in the NBA right now, surpassing even the Lakers. I don’t doubt it one bit.
• My new car came with a trial subscription to Sirius XM. Most of my listening thus far has been devoted to Hair Nation, the Tom Petty station, the Pearl Jam station, and Rock Bar, but it’s getting repetitive. What are some other good listens?
• I’ll cop to having a longtime fascination with professional wrestling. The people in it intrigue the hell out of me. I just watched an episode of Vice’s “Dark Side of the Ring” documentary series, and man, the one about Brian Pillman was just dark, dark stuff. If you ever feel like making yourself depressed down into your bones, give it a watch.
This week’s Top 5 List
This one was a lot of fun to think about, and it’s the brainchild of Mrs. TribJazz (aka Katie): Top 5 Songs You Hate By Bands/Artists You Love. You know what we’re talking about. No band or performer is perfect, and so, even if you adore or are enthralled by nearly everything that person or group has done, they’ve all got at least one tune you can’t stand, that one you wish they’d left as a concept in their heads as opposed to bringing into reality, that one that is an eyesore of a stain upon an otherwise impeccable musical legacy. Here are my choices:
1. Guns N’ Roses, “My World”: The closing track from GN’R’s 1991 “Use Your Illusion II” album was a product of Axl Rose’s growing infatuation with industrial music. It failed to springboard him into a desired shift to that genre, however, because it was a minute and a half of unlistenable vapidity that no one likes. It begins with unique nonsense (”You wanna step into my world/It’s a socio-psychotic state of bliss”) then devolves into repetitive nonsense “You wanna talk to me?” x1,000, followed by “Let’s do it” x1,000). Nothing interesting, creative, or pleasant to be had in the listening experience.
2. Pearl Jam, “Bugs”: Being sandwiched between a couple of killer tracks like “Corduroy” and “Satan’s Bed” on “Vitalogy” only makes this track sound even worse than it would on its own merits. And it is abominable. I’m not buying any retcon attempts at spinning this into some kind of oddball classic — nearly three minutes of Eddie Vedder repeating the same accordion line ad nauseum while wailing about insects is just tedious.
3. Fleetwood Mac, “Over My Head”: True story — for years, I thought I hated Fleetwood Mac because the only songs of theirs I knew were the boring Christine McVie ones that got played on FM100 (the embodiment of a soccer-mom radio station, IMHO) in my mom’s car. Turns out, Lindsey Buckingham can shred, Stevie Nicks is this mysterious, bewitching presence, and I love a ton of their stuff … but Christine McVie apparently did, in fact, only write simplistic, sickly-sweet, I’m-in-love-isn’t-it-great tripe. There are many I hate, but this one is the worst.
4. Queen, “Who Wants to Live Forever”: Apparently this opinion constitutes something close to heresy among Queen fans, but I don’t care — the only emotion this attempt at sweeping grandiosity elicits in me is boredom.
5. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Don’t Come Around Here No More”: The backstory of Eurythmics frontman and TPHB producer/collaborator David Stewart attending a cocaine party at Stevie Nicks’ house and waking up to her breaking up with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh is actually far more interesting than this unfocused, sitar-, synth-, and chant-driven mess.
And, just so I’m not leaving you with a mess of music you don’t want to listen to, here’s a recommendation on something you should give a listen to: Myles Kennedy’s new solo album, “The Ides of March.” The guy’s a clever lyricist, talented guitarist, and he’s got some impressive pipes.
