LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 16, 2021

Donovan Mitchell

Postgame Press Conference

Los Angeles Clippers - 119, Utah Jazz - 111

Q. Can you take us through kind of what it was like in the locker room after that one ended?

DONOVAN MITCHELL: Disappointing, I think, for us, understanding that this was a winnable game for us. Outside of Paul having a great night and a few other guys doing well, but I think disappointed. But understanding that we can't really sit here and sulk. The series is not over. We got a lot of life left to give and a lot of juice to give and we just got to go out there and play with a level of desperation that we have never played with before, otherwise we'll be home.

Q. Rudy said that he doesn't feel that you guys came out with a sense of urgency defensively tonight. Do you agree with that? And if you do agree with that, if there's something to that, why are we talking about urgency in Game 5 of a series?

DONOVAN MITCHELL: I think we came out, I think the offense, we had two turnovers, I had one. And I think to start the game off, we just didn't, we weren't, we just made mistakes. I wouldn't say we didn't come out with a level of urgency. I think we came out and we were just fighting.

At the end of the day, like, the score may not reflect it, but I wouldn't say necessarily we didn't have a sense of urgency. But at the end of the day, we competed, and we got to continue to compete. We got to find a way to make it tough on these guys throughout the full 48. The last two games have been pretty easy for them offensively and we got to do a better job as a unit.

Q. You guys have been talking about the need to kind of get the defense on a higher level for the last few games. What do you see at this point that is lacking? What did you need to do tonight that you guys didn't?

DONOVAN MITCHELL: I think we can, I think we're going to make some adjustments. I think Paul's a little comfortable. Hat's off to him for doing what he does and doing whatever, but we can't just have Royce out there and then just Rudy help. We got to make it tough. And then when guys get open looks, just because they're quote/unquote non-shooters, we can't give them easy ones. We still got to get out there and contest and make them see a hand. And I think that's the biggest thing. Terance Mann played has ass off. Reggie Jackson being Reggie Jackson. Morris is Morris. We got to understand that we got to be able to close out to these guys and make it tough for them as a whole.

The numbers will show that the starting five they have four guys in double figures, but those little shots, like Kennard having 7, like two big ones, it's tough on us. Like, that's a game-changer throughout the entire game, and I think we just got to make -- all these shots, we got to make it tougher. And like I said, if we don't, we're going to be home, and we have no choice at this point, and I think we will pick it up, and we will be better in Game 6 because we have no choice.

Q. When you're playing without your usual explosiveness, probably the ankle's bothering you a little bit, what can you do to be effective out there without your usual abilities?

DONOVAN MITCHELL: I'm figuring it out. For most of my life I've been able to push by, explode by, and jump through people or over people, and for the first time in my career, I've had to play on the floor. So being able to not to just, knowing when to attack, picking my spots, finding my teammates, I think that's the biggest thing, being able to kind of get off, hit them when they're doubling me and engaging the blitz. And I think I did a solid job of that, I can do better, it's a learning process and it sucks that I'm learning this through the playoffs, but it is what it is and no excuses. So just being able to kind of bait the blitz, know when to attack and just kind of slow down a little bit, I think that's what I've been doing throughout the entire playoffs because obviously can't really move.

Q. How much pain are you in and with this being an every other day situation, is there any hope of the ankle getting better or is this just something you're going to have to deal with as long as you guys are alive?

DONOVAN MITCHELL: It's something I'm going to have to deal with. I mean, it fucking sucks. I ain't got nothing else to say. Like it's tough when you're trying different things that you normally do and you see spots you can get to, but you can't, so you got to find a way to make it happen. It's tough, but I got to find a way, otherwise I'm going to be home. And I said it last year, that we didn't do all this -- and I said during the year -- we didn't do all this to lose in the second round, so we got to figure it the fuck out, otherwise, that's it. Excuse my language.