Ajay Mitchell has been the talk of the town, not only locally but throughout the basketball world. The Sophomore guard has made a massive impact on the Oklahoma City Thunder amid their 20-1 start to the season, stealing headlines and earning big minutes in Mark Daigneault’s rotation.
On Sunday, the UC Santa Barbara product’s maturity is what really shed a light on his winning impact as just a second-year player.
This has been an interesting season for the OKC Thunder, despite their overall success an underlining story has been their rash of injuries. The Thunder have yet to play a game this season with their expected rotation available and over the last two games have re-incorporated All-NBA Swingman Jalen Williams into the fold, the typical head of the snake in secondary units where Mitchell has thrived this season. In Williams’ first game of the year, Mitchell left the contest early with a knee contusion, playing with the Santa Clara product for the first time this season on Sunday.
“Who’s out there with Ajay [Mitchell] shouldn’t impact how Ajay plays. He’s got to go out there, execute the fundamentals and play his game,” Head Coach Mark Daigneault said pregame on Sunday.
The second quarter headlined by the bench mob got off to a sloppy start with awkward offense that felt like the Thunder were playing too unselfish at times. A farcry from the typical offensive explosion Mitchell has provided with his downhill prowess and isolation buckets in the first 19 games of the year.
At half time, Mitchell was just 1-for-3 from the floor, missing the only 3 he attempted, but did dish out three assists. Overall he was a net 0 in his minutes.
His night was made even more forgettable by his third quarter, which featured three fouls, 0-for-1 in the frame and being a -4 in five minutes of action.
As the fourth quarter rolled around in a tight game, Mitchell airballed the first triple he hoisted of the frame putting the cherry on top of what was thought to be a rare bad outing from the sixth man of the year favorite.
Then, everything changed.
The Thunder back up point guard went on to tally 11 points in the final frame, two rebounds, as many assists and a steal while never missing a shot again closing the fourth quarter shooting 4-for-4 and a 2-for-2 trip to the free throw line playing all but a minute of the last period.
He got back to what’s made him successful this season. A steal leading to a runaway layup that caused Portland to use a timeout as the Thunder got off to an 8-0 start in the frame, slicing through the lane and rewarded with an easy layup on a dish from Jalen Williams, nailing a catch-and-shoot triple for a second chance bucket, capped off by an isolation mid-range bucket while superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Rising Star Chet Holmgren and the All-NBA Swingman looking on to make the score 117-110 with just 62 ticks to go, putting the game on ice for the Thunder.
“For me, it’s like what can I do to help this team win? That’s really all that’s on my mind. I’m glad that we got guys back, and I’m excited to get everybody back,” Mitchell said following this win over Portland.
In what was a rare off night for three quarters, Mitchell’s poise and maturity carried him to a brilliant fourth quarter that ultimately sparked the Thunder’s 20th win of the season in 21 tries. It would’ve been easy for the young guard to press the issue, try to shoot his way out of it, or get out of character and play too passively. Instead, he stayed the course and delivered down the stretch for OKC.
Song of the Day: This Ain’t the First Time (But It’s the Worst Time) by Eleven Hundred Springs
