Dallas • Can the Utah Jazz win a game when the momentum shifts, the tension ratchets up, and the situation gets tight?
They did on Saturday, with no less than Game 1 of their playoff series on the line.
Despite horrible 3-point shooting all game long, an anonymous first half from Donovan Mitchell, and yet another fourth-quarter swoon that got the American Airlines Center crowd whipped up into a frenzy, the Jazz also got just enough clutch buckets and stops for a 99-93 victory to steal home-court advantage.
Mike Conley drilled a clutch pull-up 20-foot jumper. Royce O’Neale rebounded his own missed layup, and finished the extra possession by burying a corner 3. Rudy Gobert swarmed Jalen Brunson in the lane, forcing a tough look that missed.
And so, for now, the Jazz can avoid another conversation about not coming through in the clutch.
They led by as many as 12 points, saw that cut all the way down to 92-91 with 2:12 to play … But hung on at last.
“We kept our aggression. That’s key for us,” said coach Quin Snyder. “… Look at Royce O’Neale’s 3. He hadn’t made a shot all game, and he didn’t hesitate.”
The Jazz lead the best-of-seven series 1-0, with Game 2 to come Monday night.
Despite Bojan Bogdanovic’s promise that the Jazz had some weapons they’d been saving for the playoffs, he often appeared to be the only one not disarmed in the first half — where he scored 20 of his 26 points.
They shot just 17 for 42 overall, and went only 2 for 11 from 3, with the Mavs selling out to stop them behind the arc. They didn’t even hit their first triple until there was just 3:10 remaining before halftime. Mitchell, meanwhile, totaled just two points, three assists, one rebound and one block while shooting 1 for 9, all but swallowed up by the length of Dallas defenders Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock.
Still, they turned the game around with an incendiary quarter by Mitchell.
The All-Star guard hit 7 of 13 shots in the period, totaling 19 points while playing the entire period.
After resting for less than a minute and a half to start the fourth, he returned to the lineup and finished the game (he totaled 32 points, six rebounds and six assists).
Still, it ultimately came down to getting stops.
Gobert grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked three shots, and otherwise proved his usual imposing self by rotating to the corner to challenge shooters, then recovering to the paint to protect the rim.
“His ability to do that is central to how we play defense,” said Snyder. “… How many shots did Rudy get tonight? For him to get [only] one shot, that’s another example of someone throwing himself into the team.”
Dallas wound up shooting just 38.2% for the game, and 9 of 32 from 3, and was clearly missing both the scoring and playmaking of injured superstar Luka Doncic, who sat out with a calf strain.
Asked about Utah’s ability to withstand the Mavericks going small against them — a scheme that has tripped the team up going all the way back to last year’s postseason ouster by the Clippers — Snyder said it was imperative for the Jazz to punish them.
And clearly, as evidenced by Gobert’s single shot attempt, they showed there’s more than one way to do it.
“You guys know that teams go small against us sometimes, right? We outrebounded them by 20,” he said. “When teams go small against us, it’s important for us to utilize our strengths.”
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/TlPcpnM
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