SALT LAKE CITY — As the Jazz prepared for the second half of Saturday’s win at Charlotte, they had some film study.

Utah coach Quin Snyder and his staff showed their team multiple clips where players were left wide open in the corner but no pass came. The message: Please don’t let that happen again.

To their credit, the Jazz rarely did. Utah shot ten corner 3-pointers in the second half (making six of them) as part of a 3-point barrage that pushed them to a second-half comeback against the Hornets.

But those clips were more than just about finding the open man in the corner. It was about moving the ball and recognizing the plays that were there to be made.

And maybe no one took that message to heart more than Donovan Mitchell.

In the final six-plus minutes, Mitchell took over the game — not with his scoring, but his passing.

With 6:20 left, he stopped his dribble, jumped off two feet and threw a two-handed, above-the-head pass to Royce O’Neale standing wise open in the corner for a 3.

On the next possession, Mitchell made just about the identical play. He drove to his left, stopped quickly and did the same pass to the corner. This time it was Joe Ingles benefiting from Mitchell’s vision as he buried the open look.

In the final minute, Mitchell made a quick two-handed pass to O’Neale for a streaking layup. And then drove in, jumped and dumped the ball off to a waiting Rudy Gobert who slammed it home.

Mitchell had a game-high nine assists in the game. Four of them came down the stretch.

“Donovan's really unselfish,” Snyder said. “When you're as offensively talented as Donovan is, and you're also asked to play the point, you have to find a balance and I think he's doing a really good job. First is his understanding and that has really taken steps.”

Mitchell is getting better and better at making reads; at knowing what defenders are doing and where the open play will be. That was why he was so effective in the fourth quarter moving the ball and finding teammates. The Hornets knew what he had done in the previous two games to lead Utah to fourth-quarter comebacks, and so they were trying to stop him from scoring any way they could. It might have stopped Mitchell from scoring. But it didn’t stop the Jazz.

“Tonight they were trapping him, and they were blitzing in pick and roll,” Snyder said. “When that happens, he's more than willing to get off the ball and pass it. And that's what he did.”

For Mitchell, it’s all about making the right play. That sometimes means driving down the lane for a dunk or layup. Sometimes it means pulling up from 3. And sometimes it means finding the open man. He’s just working on making the best read.

“There are times I turn the ball over trying to do something too much,” Mitchell said. “Just make the simple play; a lot of it is just keeping it simple and making the smart read.”

And that comes for him and the team as a whole. One of the reasons the Jazz were able to overcome a 12-point deficit in Charlotte on Saturday was because they started making those reads.

“We have an unselfish team; we just have to kind of be aware of what the defense is doing and where the rotations are and how to find people,” Snyder said. “I think we have that awareness. We really were a team that's willing to move the ball. And that's what happened the ball started moving and guys got open looks.”

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