Game Thread Apr 16, 2022 11:00AM MT: Jazz at Mavericks - Game 1

[Game Threads]

Utah Jazz Game Day

American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave, Dallas, TX 75219
Apr 16, 2022 11:00AM MT

 

[porfavors]

Allons-y!

 

[FrenchJazzFa]

Time to malke a run. Go Jazz!!

 

[Gameface]

 

[fishonjazz]

Easy win


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[LoPo]

Easy win


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I hope you're right brother. I really hope you're right.

I want us to beat them so badly that Luka strains his other calf jumping off the bench to yell at the refs.

 

[homeytennis]

Is Luka still ded?

 

[Gameface]

Is Luka still ded?

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

We're now going to figure out if we are as bad as we've played over the last few months, or if we've just been saving our energy for the playoffs.

 

[NUMBERICA]

We're now going to figure out if we are as bad as we've played over the last few months, or if we've just been saving our energy for the playoffs.

I’ve decided I’m going to only say positive things that are also true about our prospects.

*crickets chirping*

 

[fishonjazz]

We're now going to figure out if we are as bad as we've played over the last few months, or if we've just been saving our energy for the playoffs.

We have actually been really good over the last few months 80% of the time. If we simply won most of the games that we had nice leads in the 4th then we would look much different right now.
Locke was saying on the radio that he has seen more high level playoff basketball from the jazz over the last month than he had the rest of the entire season…. Then the end of the 4th quarter arrives. Just have to finish better.


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[Hekate]

I’ve decided I’m going to only say positive things that are also true about our prospects.

*crickets chirping*

Seriously, the Jazz are finally healthy and when everyone plays, they are one of the best teams in the NBA, it may be a small sample size and no one knows who the opponents are because no one checked if we played Kings twice over that span but the point standjsjshsh.

Now, Jazz have been beaten plenty by teams missing their stars but we are talking about the Jazz. It doesn't matter, Jazz are the most unique team in the league after all. No adversity means good Jazz. They may even win the chip if there isn't any adversity or pressure to perform.

/Sorry for quote ranting

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

If it were me, I'd start House on Dinwiddie. Conley guards Brunson. Mitchell guards Bullock. Bojan guards DFS. Rudy guards half the floor while keeping an eye on Powell.

If Dallas doesn't get 25+ points from Dinwiddie, I don't think they can win.

 

[fishonjazz]

If it were me, I'd start House on Dinwiddie. Conley guards Brunson. Mitchell guards Bullock. Bojan guards DFS. Rudy guards half the floor while keeping an eye on Powell.

If Dallas doesn't get 25+ points from Dinwiddie, I don't think they can win.

I like it


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[Ferguson_Mellochill]

If the Mavs go small, another nice option would be Eric Paschall. Let him run a 4/5 pick-and-roll with Rudy.

 

[Jingled]

We're now going to figure out if we are as bad as we've played over the last few months, or if we've just been saving our energy for the playoffs.

If Luka doesn't play, then the first round won't tell us much of anything. The true test will come in the second round when we face the Suns.

 

[infection]

We have actually been really good over the last few months 80% of the time. If we simply won most of the games that we had nice leads in the 4th then we would look much different right now.
Locke was saying on the radio that he has seen more high level playoff basketball from the jazz over the last month than he had the rest of the entire season…. Then the end of the 4th quarter arrives. Just have to finish better.


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It looks much better when you exclude the problematic parts. Like when you look at the Denver series, it looks much better when you say we held on to that 17 point 3rd quarter lead in game 5 when we were up 3-1. We win the series. But that isn't what happened, and that lead meltdown isn't something you can pretend didn't happen because we lost the series. Last year when we were up 2-0 with Kawhi out, we could pretend losing leads didn't happen. Or we could pretend we didn't blow a 23 point lead in game 6 and pushed a game 7 and obviously could have totally reshaped the narrative of that series. But we didn't. I can accept the bubble as an outlier. But when it repeated against LAC, those components have to be taken as part of the equation. After an off-season of realizing that we collapsed in those ways, we repeated the same thing multiple times. And not just a few times that stand out, but at a frequency far beyond chance.

As I've said here or another thread, we certainly could turn it around and play well and face some demons. But our record in close games has been pretty horrible and to say that it improves could end up being true, but we have to acknowledge that that belief doesn't have any foundation other than hypotheticals.

 

[footawn]

It’s Donovan time. Not hero-ball, “Don scores anyway while triple-teamed” time. But “Don makes the whole team better the way superstars do in the playoffs” time. Let’s see if he can do it. I believe he can.

 

[fishonjazz]

It looks much better when you exclude the problematic parts. Like when you look at the Denver series, it looks much better when you say we held on to that 17 point 3rd quarter lead in game 5 when we were up 3-1. We win the series. But that isn't what happened, and that lead meltdown isn't something you can pretend didn't happen because we lost the series. Last year when we were up 2-0 with Kawhi out, we could pretend losing leads didn't happen. Or we could pretend we didn't blow a 23 point lead in game 6 and pushed a game 7 and obviously could have totally reshaped the narrative of that series. But we didn't. I can accept the bubble as an outlier. But when it repeated against LAC, those components have to be taken as part of the equation. After an off-season of realizing that we collapsed in those ways, we repeated the same thing multiple times. And not just a few times that stand out, but at a frequency far beyond chance.

As I've said here or another thread, we certainly could turn it around and play well and face some demons. But our record in close games has been pretty horrible and to say that it improves could end up being true, but we have to acknowledge that that belief doesn't have any foundation other than hypotheticals.

Of course the past doesn't really matter since this is a different opponent with different players and our team is a different roster with different players so those series vs denver and the clippers happened, yet dont matter at all when it comes to saturday baby.

 

[Release the Kraken]

It’s Donovan time. Not hero-ball, “Don scores anyway while triple-teamed” time. But “Don makes the whole team better the way superstars do in the playoffs” time. Let’s see if he can do it. I believe he can.

I like your sentiments Sir but I’d just feel a lot better about a total team approach here. Monte Williams and Eric Spoelstra are the two best coaches in the league by record. They don’t have star studded rosters, just a couple of names that casual fans might not even list in their top tens. And they don’t rely on hero ball or iso sets to the extent that the Jazz do either. I feel like we have the horses to play that team game with the right structure and mindset in place.