Shading James Harden is not the hill that Donovan Mitchell wants to die on.
Speaking with reporters after shootaround on Tuesday, the Utah Jazz guard backtracked on his recent comments criticizing Harden and his style of play.
“Obviously he’s the MVP. There’s no doubt about that,” said Mitchell, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “I’m pretty sure we’ve all said things in the heat of the moment when you get upset. It was more so just about myself. You try so hard to fight back and what we did. I’m definitely upset it came out that way, but you can’t do anything about it. I understand there are cameras everywhere. I’m getting used to that. But like I said, he is the MVP, rightfully so.”
For reference, Mitchell was overheard after Utah’s 100-87 loss to the Houston Rockets in Game 4 on Sunday implying that Harden exaggerated contact to bait the officials into calling fouls, a common criticism of the MVP favorite.
Harden has averaged 30.5 points on 21.8 shot attempts and 9.8 free throw attempts per game this series, which the Rockets currently lead 3-1. The Jazz and Mitchell will need to find a way to limit those numbers as they look to fight off elimination in Game 5 on Tuesday night.
