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With the game in jeopardy of turning to Denver’s favor, injury depleted Utah could really use some extra defenders on the court. That would be illegal so Donovan did the next best thing: recruit fans for screaming.
On a crucial out of bounds play he asked some fans courtside to ‘GET LOUD’. And did they ever. They were so loud that they helped the Utah Jazz force the Denver Nuggets into a 5 second violation late in the game. An odd self inflicted wound in such a tight game by a really good team.
@spidadmitchell looked at a group of fans that included my sister and said, “get loud.” He got a steal then came back to group and yelled “good job.” I’m very jealous of my sister rn. pic.twitter.com/Z2EfCB0Rli
— RB (@ryanmaxbailey) January 24, 2019
Jazz fan, Ryan, says in his tweet that it was a group that included his sister. After the play, you could see Donovan tell “Good Job!” to the fans and even gave them a big high five. Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune got more details on it.
Donovan Mitchell tells the crowd to yell in the ear of Will Barton as he's inbounding the ball... they do, the Jazz force the 5-second violation, and Mitchell gives the fans his appreciation. pic.twitter.com/rbSKOx4dB9
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 24, 2019
Mitchell: "I told them, ‘just yell in his ears.’ It distracts you. Told them to act like a Duke crowd, yell and scream. If you watch, they were really after it, that’s why I gave them a high five, they were in his ear from the beginning. I appreciate the crowd’s aggressiveness."
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 24, 2019
Donovan Mitchell is a national treasure.