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SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Mitchell proclaimed himself ready to play in Game 6.
The day after an MRI on his left hamstring was negative, the Utah Jazz star guard said he would be ready to play as Utah faces elimination Thursday at Vivint Arena.
"It's good," he said of the hamstring that forced him to leave Game 5 early. "Thankful that it was negative, and I'll be ready to go tomorrow."
While there was no injury to Mitchell's hamstrings, he is dealing with soreness due to contusions to his quads on both legs. The MRI revealed Mitchell had two contusions on his left thigh and one on his right.
He revealed that he got hit in the leg in Utah's Game 4 victory, which caused him some pain, but the discomfort always come on the front of the leg.
It wasn't until he felt tightness in his hamstring in the fourth quarter of the Game 5 blowout loss that he grew concerned. That's when Mitchell doubled over in pain and limped off the court after he felt his hamstring tighten up.
"I never felt anything back here, it was always in the quad area, so when I felt it in the hamstring, I was a little nervous," said Mitchell, who claimed he's never had a hamstring injury before.
Mitchell is averaging 26 points per game in the series but is only shooting 38% from the floor and 19.5% from 3-point range.
As Mitchell hobbled to the locker room in Game 5, it was feared that he'd join the growing list of stars who have been forced to miss playoff games due to injury. Phoenix lost Devin Booker, Milwaukee has been without Khris MIddleton, the Miami Heat played without Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, to name just a few.
"Obviously, there's intensity that raises, but injuries are part of the game unfortunately," Mitchell said when asked about the injury trend in this year's playoffs "It tsucks to see guys out… it's just a matter of taking care of your people, whatever that means for everybody individually. Everyone is different."
As for Mitchell, he never intended to miss Game 6, saying immediately after Monday's loss that "this is the playoffs, so I've got to find a way."
A thought that might have been heightened due to Utah's season being on the line on Thursday.
"I don't want to go home. I don't think any of us want to go home," said Mitchell. "The only thing you can do at the end of the day is compete with all you got, and play like there's no tomorrow, because tomorrow isn't promised.
"You just got to be able to do it 100% as a group," he continued. "And I think that's the energy we will come out with, and I don't even think that, I know that. We're gonna go out there and fight and head back to Dallas."
