Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell was pretty upset by his line in the box score Friday night.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, it’s the first 35-shot, zero-assist outing in the NBA since Carmelo Anthony’s 62-point performance for the New York Knicks in a win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Jan. 24, 2014.
Before that, the last such statistical line in the league occurred two decades ago, when the Boston Celtics’ Antoine Walker hoisted 35 shots without an assist in a loss on Jan. 7, 1998.
“We want him to be aggressive. We need him to be aggressive,” said Jazz small forward Joe Ingles, who missed a good look at a potential go-ahead 3-pointer off a drive-and-kick feed from Mitchell with 42.1 seconds remaining. “I said it to him during one of the timeouts: If he feels good about the shot and it’s a good shot within our offense, he needs to shoot it. If he’s 1-for-20 or 20-for-20, it doesn’t matter for us. He’s our guy. That’s what he does. He’s aggressive.
Mitchell, whose average of 4.0 assists per game is up slightly from last season, holds himself to high standards.
it took Donovan Mitchell 35 shots to get 31 points? pic.twitter.com/mkgk7sVvnF
— Andrew (@AndrewLeezus) November 17, 2018
He admits he struggles with patience and often allows losses to gnaw at him.
“But I’m going to shoot my way out of this and just stay locked in and stay focused.”
When you shoot 35 shots in a game, and get zero assists, that’s a pretty bad sign that overall you have a lot to work on in your game. Anytime you share a stat record with Carmelo Anthony, it’s not a good sign.
Donovan Mitchell joins Carmelo Anthony as the only other player to do this. 😅 pic.twitter.com/ylxxYoS1fX
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 17, 2018