DALLAS — Donovan Mitchell limped off the court at American Airlines Center on Monday night.
After driving to rim and going up for a shot with 4:55 left in the fourth quarter Mitchell came down and immediately grabbed for his left thigh. He was subbed out of the game and immediately headed for the locker room, bending over in the tunnel and breathing heavily as he grabbed his left leg again.
Mitchell did not return to the game, which was already out of reach for the Jazz before Mitchell’s injury. The Mavericks would go on to win, 102-77, and take a 3-2 series lead.
The Jazz announced Mitchell had a left hamstring injury and that he would be evaluated on Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
“I went up to try to finish and it just tightened up on me,” Mitchell said. “I couldn’t run back on defense.”
Mitchell said that he expects to have an MRI on Tuesday and know more about the injury at that point. Despite limited information though, when asked if there was concern about his ability for Thursday’s Game 6 in Utah, or if he thought treatment would be painful over the next couple of days, Mitchell waived all concerns off.
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s the playoffs, so — got to find a way. We’ll see how I feel, but I’m a competitor.”
Mitchell — and the rest of the Jazz for that matter — struggled to find any footing on offense on Monday night. When Mitchell left the game he had managed to put up just nine points on 4-of-15 shooting, including going 0-of-7 from 3-point range.
The Jazz’s 77 points were their lowest scoring output of the 2021-22 season and their 3-of-30 3-point performance is the worst by an NBA team in the playoffs when attempting at least 25 3-pointers.