The Utah Jazz were eliminated by the Houston Rockets for the second year in a row.
And for the second year in a row Jazz star Donovan Mitchell didn't play up to his standards in the postseason against the Rockets.
Mitchell struggled last year shooting just 36% from the field and 25% from three against Houston in the Conference Semifinals.
In the series-clinching loss on Wednesday night, he closed his season out with a poor 4-for-22 night from the field, committing five turnovers finishing as a minus-13 in 39 minutes.
| Game | FG | FGA | FG% | Points | +/- |
| Game 1 / 2018 | 9 | 22 | 41% | 21 | -15 |
| Game 2 / 2018 | 6 | 21 | 29% | 17 | +13 |
| Game 3 / 2018 | 4 | 16 | 25% | 10 | -31 |
| Game 4 / 2018 | 8 | 24 | 33% | 25 | -6 |
| Game 5 / 2018 | 9 | 17 | 53% | 24 | -3 |
| Game 1 | 7 | 18 | 39% | 19 | -20 |
| Game 2 | 5 | 19 | 26% | 11 | -13 |
| Game 3 | 9 | 27 | 33% | 34 | 0 |
| Game 4 | 11 | 26 | 42% | 31 | +8 |
| Game 5 | 4 | 22 | 18% | 12 | -13 |
"Honestly, I got some looks that I wanted you know a lot of it is just trying to attack," Mitchell told the media postgame. "Like I said when the shots were going in Game 3 and 4 I'm not going to stop attacking.
"Obviously, in a closeout game, you don't want to shoot 4-for-22 with five turnovers but it happened.
You don't succeed without failure, you don't succeed without going through times like this so to have that so vividly in my head in a moment like this — I could tell you that I'm upset and all but I'm going to be better simply put. I wasn't tonight and I'll be better."
While the season didn't end the way Mitchell and the Jazz had hoped he did having a stellar sophomore season. He finished the year averaging 23.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists on 43% from the field. When the team needed him the most in the back half of the season he stepped up and averaged 26.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists getting the Jazz into the playoffs for the second straight season.
At age 22, the future is bright for the young guard and his head coach Quin Snyder expressed how appreciative he is of watching his growth.
"I think the thing that I'm grateful for in having an opportunity to coach Donovan is his approach and how he goes into it," Snyder told the media. "I think for all of us, for myself, for Donovan anything you have disappointment or adversity hopefully you channel it and you get better.
"That's what Donovan has done all season — hundreds of times I've answered this question about 'well what did Donovan learn from this?' or 'how did Donovan learn from that?'.
"They're good questions because Donovan is consistently in those situations where the team, his teammates, the coaches are relying on him to do things.
"I'm proud of him the fact that he competes the way he does — they'll be good nights and bad nights and everything in between, he's had a terrific season."
