The balance was destined to be broken tonight in Memphis, home of the series for the first time in the tie, but it cost him. He needed someone to help him decide and it was Donovan Mitchell (111-121). These Grizzilies have a lot of youth, a lot of self-confidence, a lot of soul and no fear. And with all this, his future could not be more hopeful. His present, for now, is still a problem for those who cross it. Dillon Brooks made it all clear at the beginning of the fourth quarter, haranguing the stands and adding four points in a row for the umpteenth attempt to come back, one that would cause serious sweat on the forehead of some Jazz that, until the last quarter, had not seen from behind on the scoreboard. They are a choral team, but they needed their leader, who captained a 14-2 run to sentence. Stellar appearance, at the right time and place, to leave the series in a glorious 2-1 in his favor, both in weight and in form. For someone who landed on Earth now, it would be difficult to guess that this, with its checks and balances, is a first against eighth tie.
The combo is explosive and the gift for neutral fans, splendid. Two catalogable teams of revelations, albeit with nuances. Utah Jazz, ending the regular season as the top seed in the West, soon ceased to be: What seemed like a good, but finite, handful of victories at the beginning of the season ended up being consumed as a general law, as a scourge, along with Phoenix Suns, of the the state of the Conference. The Grizzlies, for their part, with bits of freshness, project with projection, worth the redundancy, have exploded at the end, with their play-in as a strident warning and his first hit in this series as confirmation. They continue on their crusade, which takes the form of cheekiness and hubbub generated by a group that has nothing to lose. New explosion by JA Morant (28 + 3 + 7), who has already placed his name among the best, and a demonstration of character by a Dillon Brooks (27 + 3 + 2) omnipresent in defense and attack, but with foul problems . The point guard, with his goals today, has become the fourth player in history to exceed 100 points in his first three games of playoffs (101), behind Wilt Chamberlain (116), George Mikan (107) and Kareem Adbul-Jabbar (102).
Almost nothing and almost enough; Although the numbers may lie Utah Jazz came to accumulate a 15-point lead during the first half, controlled the tempos from start to (almost) end and, in many moments, had no doubts about his new status in the series, ahead for the first time; but they all entered at once. It’s no secret that much of the tie goes through Utah’s success from long range; nor that JA Morant’s effervescence, and his ability to maintain it, is his main counterweight. Also the emergence of Mitchell (absent in the first game) and how accompanied Morant may be in his recurring heroics. The first came after scoring 25 points in his debut, pushing his team from the perimeter (5 triples); the second, after a 47 + 4 + 7, but very lonely. All this, in a brutal increase of Utah from long distance (from 12/47 of the first round it went to 19/39) that denied the feat to its aspirant. Today, there was a bit of everything again. With Utah returning to make 19 triples (44.2%) and with a JA that found less company than his opposite counterpart.
Mike Conley (27 + 6 + 8), who returned to Memphis, but to play against his Grizzlies, was one of the reasons, stinging in the hot moments and successful throughout the game, with a devastating 7 of 10 in triples. Mitchell, who went to 29 points, also found support in Rudy Gobert (15 + 14) or Royce O’Neal (12 + 7), with Bojan Bogdanovic (15 + 6) and Jordan Clarkson (15) waiting with their blows. of effect. Morant, on the other hand, had a less effective line of support, beyond Brooks, with some Grayson Allen (17 + 3) and Kyle Anderson (11 + 13 + 5) opportune, but some Jaren Jackson Jr. (9+ 9 + 3) and Jonas Valenciunas insufficient. Today, the Lithuanian, until the third quarter, had been missing. And the Grizzlies noticed, of course; as they noticed their landing in the match. Exhibition of fundamentals to, in just over a minute, score your only 10 points: two jump shots, two trays and a hook. Popular basketball slang, the basketball of a lifetime. With that he tried to resurrect Memphis, which left the scoreboard in terms that were not seen from the first quarter and that caused the timeout of Quin Snyder (68-61). Another story today, the same as always.
An end at the height of the tie
Air to play in other parameters, to follow behind on the scoreboard; but still a threat. Call effect for a Dillon Brooks triple, a Jackson Jr. flight or Desmond Bane’s first basket, also from long distance. And for JA, of course, who added from the free throw line to put the game to only four points, the minimum distance from the initial basket exchanges (76-80). The answer? From the perimeter, like so many other times; how Utah needs to be to continue altering the natural order of things in the best league in the world. Bogdanovic, after step back and two assists from Conley once again reduced the euphoria of a local marker who, after wandering through the scoring desert, saw the option of putting himself, for the first time, ahead on the scoreboard (76-85). Clarkson, claiming, once again, his recognition of Best Sixth Man of the competition, put things in their place before reaching the final set, “it is not going to be that we have it”, I would think; but they did. Fall triple, almost to one leg, on the possession horn and four seconds behind the quarter (85-96). The triples can be the what and the how much, but, in the hands of the artists, also the how.
The balance was destined to be broken tonight in Memphis, and it could not be from such a disparate setting, so different from what had been seen so far in the series. A partial 6-0 took advantage of the emotion, dry for much of the duel. And Allen, with five consecutive points, made the game a perfect metaphor: 98-98 and a new weighting of forces, a new scale, the one that, with eight minutes to go, can go either way. And it was difficult for him to decide, in the game and, therefore, in the tie. In that final stretch of the game, all the draws of the duel were seen, and there were six. Mitchell, again, was the differential factor, with a 2 + 1 and a triple that allowed not only to tie, but also to reap a five-point advantage (109-113). After all the effort, a new climb, already too demanding. Also, with a Donovan determined to keep adding. Excessive for Memphis and what the scale needed to decide. The balance is upset in Utah’s favor, or rather Mitchell’s.
