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NEW YORK — Donovan Mitchell doesn’t remember many specifics about last season’s game at Madison Square Garden.
“The whole trip was really just a whole blur to me,” Mitchell said.
It was the first official professional homecoming for Mitchell, who was born and raised in Elmsford, New York, about an hour’s drive north of Manhattan.
And when the Jazz arrived in New York to play the Knicks in November 2017, he was just beginning to figure things out.
While he put up 19 points — which included starting off the game with a two-handed alley-oop finish — four rebounds and three assists in a loss to the Knicks last season, his return home didn’t come with much fanfare. Sure, he had over 200 family members and friends at the game, but he hadn't yet become the household name he has now become. Or the player many Knicks fans wish they would have taken in the 2017 draft.
The contest came just 15 games into his rookie season and was still seen as a late-lottery pick with a lot of potential.
Over a year later, a lot of things have changed.
It was in New York last summer when Mitchell fully realized how big his star had grown. On the day before the 2018 NBA Draft, Mitchell filmed himself being chased by a mob of eager fans. He'd had people come out to see him in masses before — but it had been in Utah. This was in New York City. And they were coming.
“I couldn’t get to my car which was five feet away,” Mitchell said. “That’s when it hit me, like, OK, this is different; this is my life.”
For the kid who was once the one doing the chasing, it was a bit of a reality check. And those types of moments haven’t stopped. Mitchell doesn't always have to deal with herds of people trying to get a glimpse of him or needs cops to chauffeur him through crowds, but he is being stopped at every arena getting asked for pictures and autographs.
On Monday, after the Jazz defeated the Wizards, Mitchell remained in the Jazz tunnel long after the final buzzer had sounded signing shirts, jerseys and even hands for fans. People came to see him. Sure, many were transplanted Jazz fans from Utah, but they were transplanted Jazz fans in No. 45 jerseys.
“It’s just a blessing,” Mitchell said. ”No disrespect to the Wizards but it sounded like we had more fans than they did. That’s just a testament to the following that we have, It’s incredible to be in every city — kids, adults, everyone to come out and support us. It’s really special.”
And he thinks it’ll be special on Wednesday. Mitchell said that he expects hundreds of friends and family to fill Madison Square Garden to watch him play in the arena he grew up attending.
The very arena he used to climb to the top up of the highest section to watch Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Jason Kidd and Tyson Chandler. The same arena he went to Rangers games, to concerts, and where he watched the Harlem Globetrotters.
“I’ve literally done every possible thing you can do in Madison Square Garden,” Mitchell said. “I can’t pick out one game for you, because it kind of all goes together, but I think just being able to be in that arena is just something special.”
And maybe he’ll have a special performance in store for Wednesday.
It’ll be the first time he’s played in the "Mecca of Basketball" as a budding superstar. But if he’s feeling any pressure of being the main attraction in the arena that has produced legendary performances from everyone from Michael Jordan to LeBron James to Stephen Curry, he’s not showing it.
“I feel a little more comfortable,” Mitchell said. “I was still trying to figure out my situation, as far as my role where I was at, figure out my rookie year. I think now, I pretty much have an idea of where I’m at. And I'm continuing to build on that.”
And building on who he is as a player is what his coach wants — no matter the arena the Jazz are playing in.
“As much as anything, our focus I just want (it) to be — whether it’s here or The Garden, home or wherever we’re playing — I just want us to focus on getting better,” Snyder said.
