Some nights the ball just won’t go through the hoop.
Unfortunately for the Utah Jazz on Monday night, they found out the hard way.
Despite 20 points from Jordan Clarkson, Utah fell 102-77 to Dallas in game five of their first round playoff series. With the loss, the Jazz will return home to Salt Lake City for game six with a chance to extend their season.
“It’s not like we didn’t compete. … We play to win,” head coach Quin Snyder said postgame. “We did miss shots, but I don’t want to just point to ‘bad shooting night.’ Sometimes they’re good looks and you take them, and sometimes it requires more. … Continuous movement and attacking and passing is what we require.”
| Headed home for a do-or-die Game 6 #TakeNote | @getcoinzoom pic.twitter.com/P8l08hIqXY
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 26, 2022
While Utah’s struggles are legitimate, they’re also slightly exaggerated as the Jazz didn’t knock down shots. The offense executed well as far as generating open shots, but the Jazz never seemed as if they had their legs underneath them throughout the game.
With Dallas pushing the tempo and getting the ball up the court quickly before attacking, Utah always appeared on its heels and just never recovered. A positive is that the effort was there throughout the night, the Jazz never gave up and continued to fight and grind despite being in front of an explosive Mavericks crowd.
“Obviously in a game like tonight, you’d like to execute better,” Snyder said. “Dallas played well, they had us on our heels early in the game. We were just a half step late in transition, half step late on a close-out, just a half-step late.”
@DanuelHouseJr #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/g03kUW4bRG
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 26, 2022
Despite the struggles from the Jazz shooting the ball, Clarkson continued to be Utah’s best and most efficient offensive weapon. He finished with 20 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals off the bench, shooting 9-of-15 from the floor.
Once again, he could attack from anywhere on the court and broke down Dallas’ defense at will. He often made the right basketball move, getting into the paint and drawing defenders before kicking out for an open shot.
| 20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals #TakeNote | @zionsbank pic.twitter.com/fvciDeMChB
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 26, 2022
One of the bright spots was the play of Rudy Gobert, arguably the most disliked person inside American Airlines Arena based on the crowd’s reaction to him every time he touched the ball. It didn’t seem to affect his level of play as he finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, his second consecutive double-double.
Rudy with his 30th playoff double-double #PerformanceLeader | @UofUHealth pic.twitter.com/nlQKbW32zN
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 26, 2022
Utah’s struggles began early as despite getting great looks on offense, the ball did everything but go through the hoop — allowing Dallas to jump out to an 18-9 lead. A quick 7-1 run made it a three-point game, but Spencer Dinwiddie responded with a three, as the Jazz trailed 24-18 after one.
The Jazz kept fighting to begin the second quarter, cutting the deficit to two following a Juancho Hernangomez three-pointer, Utah’s second of the game. But Dallas took control from that point on, going on a 22-4 run before Clarkson scored the final four points of the half.
Utah trailed 52-36 at the break.
The third quarter is one the Jazz want to forget altogether. Although they scored 19 points, their highest point total in a quarter up to that point, Luka Doncic caught fire with 19 points of his own in the frame. Utah found a little momentum at the end of the quarter as Gobert scored seven straight to make it 81-55, heading to the fourth.
Like they’ve done all season, Utah kept fighting by cutting what was a 33-point lead to 21 halfway through the quarter. But Dallas responded with an 8-0 run to officially put the game away.
“Our strength has been our versatility, and the fact that we have multiple weapons, we have to be able to use that,” Snyder said. “It’s extreme tonight, but it’s some of the same things we’ve talked about previously. We need to keep playing for one another more. … We just need each other and need to play like that offensively.”
Donovan Mitchell (left hamstring) will be evaluated tomorrow in Salt Lake City.
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 26, 2022
With their season on the line, Utah returns home for Thursday’s showdown against Dallas. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. MST.
“You have to give them credit. … They protected homecourt,” Mitchell said. “They could have won by fifty tonight, but it’s one game. We have to go home and take care of business. We’ll watch the film, we’ll adjust, and we’ll be ready for Thursday.”
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