Utah had a golden opportunity against Mavericks deprived of Luka Doncic. Admittedly, the Jazz had recovered the advantage of the field in Dallas but Jalen Brunson and his teammates came to take it back in Salt Lake City, still without the Slovenian, in a match marked by the whistles of the Mormon public for his players in the first half. weather.
“It’s part of the game” expliquait Donovan Mitchell. “We weren’t playing well. There were whistles. I also whistled in front of my television when I was a fan. There is nothing personal. There are expectations. It’s no secret, everyone thought we were going to be able to manage, which we didn’t do in the first half. Hence the whistles. »
Relegated to 17 lengths (51-68) at the break, Quin Snyder’s troops displayed the frustrating face that earned them so many disappointments: an attack relying almost exclusively on sequences in isolation, a first defensive line far too easily exceeded and a Rudy Gobert forced to make the piston between the helpers under the circle and outside shooters who put on the open outside baskets.
“I like what we did in the second half. I like the way we played defensively coming back from the locker room”
In an attempt to turn the game around, Quin Snyder pitched Eric Paschall in the third quarter alongside Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson and Royce O’Neale. One group used just 24 minutes over the entire regular season. Nevertheless, with different combinations of the genre without a real pivot, the Jazz gleaned 11 points to come back to two possessions in the last quarter.
With this formula capable of “switching” everything, Utah thus returned to the match, but it was above all the difference in defensive intensity that was notable.
“The most important element was our intensity”confirmed Donovan Mitchell. “We made stops and we ran. It’s something we need to capitalize on as the series progresses. »
On the bench, Rudy Gobert also appreciated seeing his teammates raise their voices defensively.
“I like what we did in the second half. I like the way we played defensively coming back from the locker room. The attack comes by itself when we play with this defensive intensity. The question for us now is can we have that defensive intensity for 48 minutes. »
“I think we have become too dependent (on the protection of Rudy Gobert’s circle). He was the best defender of the year several times and we have been referring all our opponents to him for years. It is our identity”
The question is indeed whether the exteriors can hold the opposing ball carriers and prevent them from systematically coming into the racket, to provoke Rudy Gobert’s assists.
“At the end of the day, we have to be able to contain the ball”recalled Quin Snyder. “When the ball goes into the paint, it creates problems for us. »
The amazing thing is that the outsides of the Jazz did it pretty well when Eric Paschall was on the pitch, but as soon as Rudy Gobert is behind them, Donovan Mitchell and company don’t seem to be trying to stay between the ball and the basket, content to accompany their player, even if it means always generating the same problems. Asked about this astonishing difference in intensity, the rear had a few seconds of silence, before saying that it was a ” good question “. Mike Conley was a bit more talkative.
“I think we have become too dependent (from the protection of the circle of Rudy Gobert). He was the best defender of the year several times and we have been referring all our opponents to him for years. It is our identity. I don’t think it’s a physical problem. I can defend, Royce can defend, House can defend, and we can continue the list. We have good lateral speed, we can contain several dribbles. We have to go back to our high school defensive principles and help each other. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Donovan Mitchell | 67 | 33.8 | 44.8 | 35.5 | 85.3 | 0.8 | 3.4 | 4.2 | 5.3 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 25.9 |
| Bojan Bogdanovic | 69 | 30.9 | 45.5 | 38.7 | 85.8 | 0.8 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 18.1 |
| Jordan Clarkson | 79 | 27.1 | 41.9 | 31.8 | 82.8 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 16.0 |
| Rudy Gobert | 66 | 32.1 | 71.3 | 0.0 | 69.0 | 3.7 | 11.0 | 14.7 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 15.6 |
| Mike Conley | 72 | 28.6 | 43.5 | 40.8 | 79.6 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 5.3 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 13.7 |
| Hassan Whiteside | 65 | 17.9 | 65.2 | 0.0 | 62.3 | 2.6 | 5.0 | 7.6 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 8.2 |
| Rudy Gay | 55 | 18.9 | 41.4 | 34.5 | 78.5 | 1.0 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 8.1 |
| Royce O’neale | 77 | 31.2 | 45.7 | 38.9 | 80.4 | 0.8 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 7.4 |
| Joe Ingles | 45 | 24.9 | 40.4 | 34.7 | 77.3 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 7.2 |
| Danuel House | 25 | 19.6 | 44.7 | 41.5 | 69.2 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 6.8 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 17 | 17.5 | 50.7 | 43.8 | 47.6 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 6.2 |
| Eric Paschall | 58 | 12.7 | 48.5 | 37.0 | 76.7 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 5.8 |
| Udoka Azubuike | 17 | 11.5 | 75.5 | 0.0 | 54.5 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 4.7 |
| Greg Monroe | 3 | 8.7 | 80.0 | 0.0 | 57.1 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
| Jared Butler | 42 | 8.6 | 40.4 | 31.8 | 68.8 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 3.8 |
| Nickeil Alexander-walker | 15 | 9.9 | 33.3 | 30.3 | 91.7 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 3.5 |
| Trent Forrest | 60 | 12.8 | 49.0 | 18.5 | 79.2 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.2 |
| Elijah Hughes | 14 | 8.0 | 41.7 | 35.7 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 3.1 |
| Denzel Valentine | 2 | 9.2 | 50.0 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 |
| Norvel Leather | 3 | 6.3 | 60.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| Malik Fitts | 7 | 5.0 | 22.2 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
| Xavier Sneed | 7 | 4.4 | 25.0 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Miye Oni | 16 | 2.8 | 22.2 | 12.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Zylan Cheatham | 1 | 5.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
