SAN ANTONIO — It’s not difficult to find connections to Kobe Bryant. More difficult is finding a way to shake the feelings of shock and dismay.
Take Donovan Mitchell for example. The Utah guard was drafted 13th overall in 2017 by the Denver Nuggets and immediately traded to the Utah Jazz.
Bryant, who played with the Los Angeles Lakers for 20 years, was drafted 13th overall in 1996 by the Charlotte Hornets before being quickly shipped to California.
That was what was on Mitchell’s mind Monday morning, just hours before a 126-117 loss to the Houston Rockets at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mitchell was remembering all of his connections to the Lakers star who tragically died on Sunday.
Mitchell remembers watching Bryant’s ESPN special “Detail” in which Bryant broke down Mitchell’s 2018 Game 1 playoff performance against the Rockets.
“I’ll never forget where I was when he did the “Detail” on my game,” he said Monday. “I was in the hotel before Game 3 or Game 4 and I was in shock that he was talking about me. You know people will say ‘it’s crazy he knew my name’ but he knew my name and he knew my game ... I watched that yesterday.”
With that in mind it’s no wonder that Mitchell and the rest of the Jazz were a little bit off on Monday night.
After winning 19 of the last 21 games the Jazz stumbled against a shorthanded Rockets team that has bounced from the playoffs the last two years while the Rockets managed the win on the second half of a back-to-back. It was a result that left a bitter taste in large swaths of Jazz fans’ mouths on Monday night.
It’s fair to look at the Jazz’s performance and be concerned. They were sloppy, they looked careless with the ball, they couldn’t finish or hit on wide open shots and their defense was discombobulated through most of the game.
It’s also fair to look at the larger picture and save the concern and hand-wringing for another day. The Jazz have been playing great basketball and it’s likely an anomaly that they did nearly everything wrong on a single night.
So often it’s easy to forget the elite athletes that make up the teams we cheer for are also human and their performances can be affected by outside forces.
Rudy Gobert remembers watching Bryant’s final career game and scoring 60 points against the Jazz. Jordan Clarkson spent two years playing with Bryant and Jazz head coach Quin Snyder spent a year coaching the Lakers superstar.
Those are not memories that are easy to shake and the feelings of loss do not go away just because a person is obligated to play basketball. Especially when the game they are playing in is preceded by a tribute to the player whose life was stripped away too soon.
“It was a tough day,” Mitchell said after Monday’s game. “It’s going to continue to be a tough week.”
Even outside of the specific circumstances that surrounded Monday’s game, the NBA is not a league that makes sense every day. Good teams have bad losses and bad teams beat good teams.
Instead of worrying about a single loss out of 82 games, what is more constructive is to look at things with a positive spin. For example, the Utah Jazz played like garbage compared to what we know they can be and they only lost by nine points.
The Jazz are shooting 38.5% from 3-point range this season and shot just 13.6% against the Rockets in the first half on Monday. That’s not going to be something that they replicate and just three-more made treys and we’re talking about a tied game at the end.
On top of all of the emotions that the Jazz were feeling heading into Monday, they now start a three-game road trip without the momentum of a win, losing to one of their biggest NBA foes. Mitchell is right, this could continue to be a tough week, but eventually things will get better.
Time heals all.