New Orleans • It’s been well-documented that the Jazz have the easiest closing schedule in the NBA, that they’re favored in just about every game they have left.
Monday’s loss to the Pelicans perfectly illustrated, though, that having a better team on paper and being favored doesn’t count for anything if you don’t perform.
That much was on the team’s mind before Wednesday’s rematch.
“You can put pressure on yourself, like ‘We need to win this, we should win this,’” said coach Quin Snyder. “In the end, you’ve got to play well.”
Reserve forward Thabo Sefolosha, who’s seen everything and then some in his 13 seasons in the league, said it really is about what the Jazz do, and not about who they’re playing.
He knows it’s cliche, but he said the key is to try to bring the same focus, intensity, and execution every time.
“The main thing for us to play to the level that we’re capable of — not looking who we’re playing against,” Sefolosha said. “We’re trying to build something for the playoffs, be in a good spot mentally, physically, and everything. We have to take every game very seriously, play to what we’re capable of doing, and just keep improving.”
That said, he knows the human element enters into it, none of this takes place in a vacuum.
It’s impossible not to know that certain teams don’t have as much talent, or are going through internal issues. That said, it’s incumbent upon the players to do their best to tune all that out.
“It’s not easy — we’ve got to challenge each other, and that’s what we try to do, pushing each other,” Sefolosha said. “It’s mainly a commitment that we make to ourselves here in this locker room, player to player, saying that we will come in and have 31/2 hours where we really lock in and take the challenge.”
Donovan Mitchell … underrated
Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry was asked about Jrue Holiday’s defensive effort against Mitchell on Monday, when the Jazz star was limited to 19 points on 8-of-24 shooting, while registering nine assists vs. six turnovers.
And while he praised both Holiday’s individual defense as well as the team’s adherence to the overall scheme, he also paid Mitchell a compliment in the process.
“Donovan is a tough matchup, he’s a great player. I think he’s probably one of the most underrated players in this league from a standpoint of what he brings to the table, as you could see from when we played before,” Gentry said. “He’s a facilitator, he’s a scorer; obviously, they look at him as a great defender, because they played him on Jrue most of the game. We just try to match him up and not let guys get going.”
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