MITCHELL RETURNS AS JAZZ EXTEND NETS’ AGONY; MAVS TRIM SIXERS
SALT CITY—Donovan Mitchell returned from an eightgame injury absence to score 27 points for the Jazz, who handed the Brooklyn Nets a seventh straight defeat, 125-102 on Friday.
Mitchell hadn’t played since suffering a concussion when he took an elbow to the head in a game against the LA Lakers on Jan. 17.
He stepped right up in his return, connecting on 8-of-10 shots from the floor with six three-pointers and six assists.
It was a confidence-boosting performance for a player who admitted he’d been “kind of nervous” as his symptoms persisted.
“It was bad,” Mitchell said. “The headache, the nausea were pretty messed up.
“It was tough because we’ve been going through a tough stretch,” he said of his enforced absence. “Guys have been out, so it’s been eating at me.”
With Rudy Gobert still sidelined, Eric Paschall scored 16 points and Hassan Whiteside added 15 for the Jazz, who never trailed against the depleted Nets.
Brooklyn was without two of its “Big Three,” with Kevin Durant still recovering from a knee sprain and James Harden nursing a tight hamstring. LaMarcus Aldridge and Joe Harris were also absent.
Kyrie Irving scored 15 points and rookie Cameron Thomas had a career-high 30, but the Nets trailed by 21 entering the fourth quarter and never got any closer.
In Dallas, Luka Doncic scored 33 points in a triple-double to power the Mavericks to a 107-98 come-from-behind victory over Philadelphia.
Doncic added 13 rebounds and 15 assists, his eighth career game of at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. Only Oscar Robertson—with 22—has more.
“I try to play games and win,” Doncic said of the impressive stat. “I have fun out there. As long as we win, I’m good. We came back from two notso-great losses. We stepped it up.”