Jazz making adjustments on both ends; Donovan Mitchell will play and start


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UPDATE: Donovan Mitchell is available and will start for the Jazz in Game 2, the team announced about 50 minutes before gametime. OKLAHOMA CITY — The Jazz held shootaround on the morning before their 6 p.m. MDT game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Donovan Mitchell, Jae Crowder and Jazz head coach Quin Snyder spoke to the media after the Jazz workout.

Donovan Mitchell's status

Mitchell officially remains questionable for Wednesday's Game 2 due to a left foot contusion. Both Mitchell and Snyder did their best to instill doubt in the shootaround media session.

"He's going to go through some of the pregame stuff, and they're looking at him to see how he moves and see how he feels," Snyder said. "He's a competitor who wants to play. Players who want to play are going to play through some discomfort, and they have to be careful they don't play through injury and hurt themselves."

And Mitchell talked about his pain level. "As long as I can't restrict myself from doing things. If I'm limping or not playing like my normal self, that'll dictate it," Mitchell said. But he is optimistic that he'll play.

"I feel pretty good. I'm a game-time decision right now, but it's looking good right now, I think."

Again, from watching Mitchell work in practice and in shootaround, and even watching him do something as simple as taking one pair of shoes off and putting others on, I can't detect any amount of discomfort, let alone the kind of pain that would prevent him from playing in a playoff game. Given that there's no structural damage, it doesn't seem like there's huge additional danger in having him play, either. I'd be shocked if he doesn't play in Game 2.

Adjustment time

With two long practices since Sunday's game, the Jazz have had ample time to add in some adjustments.

"It's hard to game plan with guesswork," Snyder noted. "We're a little bit different now, they're a little bit different now."

There are certainly small adjustments that the Jazz will make, especially in how the team will defend Paul George, who proved to be OKC's most dangerous offensive weapon in Game 1. But even more than that, the Jazz have to improve their defense even when giving up contested looks.

Here, George is able to rise and fire over Royce O'Neale. While it's a contest shot, given how hot George was, the Jazz would have liked to make his life a bit more difficult by taking away his airspace throughout the possession.

Then he hit one just iso-ing up Gobert. Then Ingles fell on a screen (trying to get a foul), so he hit one. Then he pulled up over Mitchell, then he pulled up over O'Neale: pic.twitter.com/6euwuzeUCr — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 16, 2018

"If you get a contested shot when a guy is going that well, you have to take that away, or do something on a higher level," Snyder said.

On the offensive end, the Jazz also feel they can move the ball more effectively than they did on Sunday. Keeping the ball moving and playing deeper into possessions, rather than taking early pull-up looks, will only help the Jazz.

"Once we got the ball moving from side to side, they do a great job of keeping the ball on one side of the court," Jae Crowder said. "We get shots that we want, myself included. We know we have to move the ball against these guys."

Rudy Gobert and Steven Adams

Gobert and Adams participated in a lot of draft workouts together while they competed for position in the 2013 NBA draft class. And while there are stories of Adams besting Gobert in a workout Oklahoma City's scouts witnessed, Gobert's improved by leaps and bounds since.

But at Oklahoma City's shootaround Wednesday, Adams said there wasn't much of a rivalry with Gobert.

> Steven Adams went through 2013 predraft workouts with Rudy Gobert. Here he is talking Gobert’s development and personality: “I actually quite lik d him a lot. Went to lunch with Rudy. He’s a good lad, mate.” [pic.twitter.com/8jpdvruXmw](https://t.co/8jpdvruXmw) > > — Fred Katz (@FredKatz) [April 18, 2018](https://twitter.com/FredKatz/status/986649476663136256?ref_src=twsrc^tfw)

"I actually quite liked him a lot," Adams told reporters about his workouts with Gobert. "Went to lunch with Rudy. He’s a good lad, mate. He's a good lad, a good dude."

Adams was then asked about what he saw of Gobert's potential, even then.

"I knew he was going to be good. He was ridiculously tall, and then ridiculously long. And he's like, quite athletic," Adams exclaimed. "Back then, he was still that lanky, getting used to the body sort of feel. Now he's better, a lot better."

Those two will be battling it out again Sunday night, especially on the defensive glass.

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