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Joe Ingles and Rodney Hood suffered through dreadful shooting performances for the Utah Jazz in Game 6 on Friday night against the Clippers — a combined 2 of 14 overall, and 0 of 9 from behind the 3-point line in a five-point loss at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
Those numbers simply don't compute in the formula that is the Jazz offense. Without those jump shots going into the net with their usual regularity instead of caroming off the rim, the Jazz will have a steep uphill battle in Game 7.
Accomplished shooters such as Ingles and Hood are stubborn when it comes to confidence in their ability. They share one common belief: They're always on the verge of making their next shot.
Sunday in Los Angeles, we'll find out if believing it can make it so.
When asked if the pressure of a closeout game rattled the Jazz on Friday night, Ingles replied flatly, "No. We've played — everyone has played millions of basketball games here. It's not just another game. It's a big game. It's bit of a different situation, but we just missed some shots we normally make, we didn't get some stops we normally did and that kind of swung the game a little bit."
Ingles, who shot 44 percent from beyond the 3-point line during the regular season, went scoreless for the second straight game. In the past two games of this series, he has missed all eight of his field-goal attempts, seven of them 3-pointers. Hood, who scored 18 points in Game 5 and 16 points in Game 5, was 2 of 10 shooting in Game 6.
The best combined performance of Ingles and Hood was in Game 4, when they made a combined five 3-pointers in the Jazz's victory.
Yet after Game 6, Hood remained steadfast that it was an off night and not the start of a trend.
"The past couple games, I went on spurts where I missed shots then I was able to come up and hit big ones," Hood said. "[Friday], it didn't turn around like I wanted it to, so I've just got to continue to work and get ready for Sunday."
Hood also insisted Friday's poor shooting performance wouldn't effect he or his teammates going into Game 7, a sentiment Gordon Hayward echoed at the postgame podium.
"I hope that we get the same shots that we got [Friday], because I have confidence in us as shooters that we can knock them down," Hayward said.
Twitter: @LWorthySports