The Oklahoma City Thunder cruised to a fourth straight victory on Saturday night in Utah with a 103-89 win over the Jazz. It’s their longest winning streak of the season and improves them to 18-15 on the season, which is their first time being three games above .500 on the year.
In this winning streak, their newly formed Big 3 of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony have been the best they’ve been together on offense all season. All three have offensive ratings of 118.5 or higher and defensive ratings of 98.7 or lower when on the court over the past four games in more than 127 minutes.
Since they arrived in Oklahoma City together, the trio have insisted they were going to be something special, and after 30 games of sputtering and general disappointment in their offensive output, they appear to be turning the corner and proving themselves right. On Saturday night, the Thunder’s stars pointed out something else they think will be special, Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell was the lone bright spot in the Jazz loss, scoring 29 points in another tremendous performance in what has been a fantastic rookie season. Mitchell might not be able to catch Ben Simmons for the Rookie of the Year, but he caught the eye of the Thunder’s Big 3, who took it upon themselves to have a postgame talk with the rook on the court after the game.
After the game, none of them would bite on questions about what exactly they told him, and unless there’s a well-placed court mic out there like there was with LeBron and Lonzo Ball’s secret convo. That said, Anthony happily heaped praise on Mitchell and told Jazz fans that they have something special in the rookie.
Carmelo Anthony declined to tell exactly what he, Russ and PG said to Donovan Mitchell postgame, but said of Mitchell, “The Utah organization and the fans have something special they can look forward to…I think you guys are watching something here that could be very special.” pic.twitter.com/O0tjv49J87
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) December 24, 2017
“I can’t tell you what I talked to him about after the game,” Anthony said. “That would be between me and him, but I think the Utah organization and the fans out here have something special that they can look forward to right now and in the future. I think he’ll be a great representation of the Utah Jazz. He continues to get better and better and I think you guys are watching something here that could be very special.”
It’s high praise from Anthony and based on how Westbrook and George seemed to also gravitate towards him for that postgame conversation it would seem they feel the same way. The Jazz, with Rudy Gobert injured again, will likely go through a rough patch and will be among those that have to really scrap for a playoff spot in the West this season. However, Utah may have gotten the steal of the draft with Mitchell and done more to replace Gordon Hayward than most would have imagined with that selection.
