Mike Conley is officially back

As of last night, Mike Conley is back.

It only took four games, but new Jazz man Mike Conley finally looks like the franchiser-changer that we thought we were getting when the Jazz traded for him this summer.

Through the first three games of this season, Mike Conley was shooting 9-45 (a whopping 20 percent) including 3-20 from three. He started out the season with a historic 1-16 shooting night, which was by far the worst of his career, and only the third time in the last five years that an NBA player had taken that many shots and only made one. It was a rough start to the season, to say the least.

But that’s all behind us now.

Last night, Mountain Mike shined through the darkness, and erased all of those bad memories from the last couple of games.

Conley was brilliant in the Jazz’s 110-96 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, scoring 29 points on 11-17 field goals (5-8 from three) and dishing out 5 assists. He took over in the third quarter, scoring 18 points on some ridiculous plays.

It was so good to see the real Mike Conley. Everyone knows who he is, and the player he can be. I don’t think anyone was really worried necessarily, but it was frustrating to see him just not being able to make shots when you know he is very capable of doing so.

Can we also talk about how much fun Conley is? Seeing his emotion on the court is awesome. Pumping up the crowd, fist pumping, mean muggin’- I love it all. The legend of Mountain Mike was born last night, and it’s going to have a lonnnng life ahead.

Mike was enshrined into the hearts of Jazz fans last night, with a celebratory water bottle soaking courtesy of Donovan, Royce, and Joe. They even broke out the stealth splash, and Mike didn’t even see it coming.

Make sure you watch until the end of the above video, which shows Mike Conley walking through the tunnel after his terrific game. “It was only a matter of time” he said when asked how he was feeling. We all knew it was coming, and so did Mike. It’s good to get the monkey off the back and get these really bad games behind him.

It’s good to see you Mike, hope you stay a while.