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For the coach of a team that's needed a buzzer-beater, 11 straight points from one player and key free throws to get its three wins in this series, Quin Snyder carries a casual air about being one win away from the second round.
Or is "casual" the right descriptor? Maybe "confident" is more appropriate.
It stems in part from having Gordon Hayward back from food poisoning, Rudy Gobert back from a knee injury and Joe Johnson shedding off the years as he plays fourth-quarter hero. But as the series goes on, the Jazz coach sees that his entire squad is increasingly confident in locking away the games in critical moments.
"Like any team, I think your best players step up at these times," he said. "But at the same time, [Hayward and Johnson] have to be willing passers."
The NBA defines "clutch" games as games within five points with five minutes remaining. Four of the five games in the Jazz-Clippers series have fallen into the clutch category, and Utah has won three of them.
While Johnson has been the obvious savior in a couple of those wins, the roles of others have been just as important: Joe Ingles as a playmaker; Rodney Hood as a kickout target for 3-pointers; George Hill in Game 5, making his shots from the line.
If Game 6 happens to be as much of a nail-biter as the rest in the series have been, it's not just Johnson that the Jazz are looking for to save the day. Among the younger members of the team, ones who haven't closed out a playoff series before, there's increasing confidence that they, too, can be clutch.
"I know those guys are going to draw a lot of attention, Joe and Gordon, and it's just being ready to shoot," said Hood, who is 3 for 4 from the field in "clutch" situations. "Sometimes you struggle within the quarter or whatever it is; gotta stay ready and shoot with confidence."
Of the 16 teams in the first round of the playoffs, Utah has the third-best shooting percentage (50.6 percent) and the best 3-point percentage (47.1) in the fourth quarter.
Snyder said after Thursday's practice that "I think we've had that all year," and he's right — to a degree. The Jazz were 27-18 this year in clutch games, and they shot 48.9 percent (best in the league) from the field in those situations.
But it's also telling who the clutch performers have been: In the regular season, Rudy Gobert (26) and Gordon Hayward (22) led the team in clutch game baskets. In the playoffs, it has been Johnson (8) and Hood (3). Only Kawhi Leonard and Chris Paul have matched Johnson's number in the first round of the playoffs.
Spreading the wealth has been a key component of Utah's success against the Clippers. Hayward and Ingles have also hit two clutch baskets this series. For Los Angeles, J.J. Redick is the only other player to record at least two.
Some of that, Snyder acknowledged, is thanks to experience that diffuses down from Utah's veterans — such as Johnson, Hill and Boris Diaw — to Utah's younger players.
"A lot of that is just kind of organic," he said. "It's something [the veterans] talk a lot about. And that's true of a lot of teams, but something that happens naturally because they're new to us."
If all goes according to plan on Friday, the Jazz will close out the Clippers at home and move on to the Western Conference semifinals against the Golden State Warriors. Said Snyder: "We don't want to go back to Los Angeles. That's not surprising. We want to close it out."
It will likely take a lot of grit, as the Clippers will scratch and claw to stay in the playoffs. But the Jazz keep growing confident that they have what it takes to get the result they want.
"This year we were much better than last year than closing out games," Gobert said. "It's just a mentality. It comes from experience."
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Clutch in the playoffs
"Clutch" defined as when the game is within five points with five minutes remaining between Utah and Los Angeles in this series;
Joe Johnson • 8 for 10
Chris Paul • 8 for 13
Rodney Hood • 3 for 4
Gordon Hayward • 2 for 7
J.J. Redick • 2 for 3
Joe Ingles • 2 for 2