Denver has no answer for Donovan Mitchell, who drops 51 in Utah win

In the series opener, Donovan Mitchell put up 57 on a Denver team that still got the win anyway.

Mitchell wasn’t done — and this time he wanted to make sure his team got the win. Mitchell joined some elite company Sunday with a 51-point performance — and the Jazz needed all those points to hold off a Denver team playing with desperation. Utah won 129-127 and now have a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Spida (51 PTS) was unstoppable tonight 😱

Mitchell and Utah take a 3-1 series lead! pic.twitter.com/UoCiDtZZRt

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) August 24, 2020

The list of other players with two 50+ point games in the same playoff series:• Michael Jordan (twice)• Wilt Chamberlain• Allen Iverson• Donovan Mitchell

That’s some rarified air. Mitchell has had to take on more of a scoring load with Bojan Bogdanovic out of the bubble (due to wrist surgery), but faced with a porous Nuggets defense (worst of all the teams in the seeding games) he is getting anything he wants. Sunday he was playing downhill, shooting 8-of-12 in the paint, plus he got to the line 18 times.

Jamal Murray was just a step behind him. Murray scored 50 for the Nuggets, his second strong game in a row.

Even with all the points Murray and the Nuggets score, if they can’t get a couple more stops their season will end on Tuesday.