(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz host the Oklahoma City Thunder, Game 3, NBA playoff basketball in Salt Lake City, Saturday April 21, 2018. Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell (45) defended by Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12).
Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan was more concerned about what would happen at the end of Saturday night’s Game 3 vs. the Jazz than the start, but he could be forgiven for hoping that either the Jazz’s Quin Snyder or the referees would have to call the first timeout Saturday night.
The Thunder never made it to the first scheduled media timeout — inside of seven minutes to play in the first quarter — before Donovan was forced to use a timeout in an effort to stop the Jazz’s initial bursts in the first two games of the series. The good news for Oklahoma City is that whatever Donovan said in the huddles worked immediately each time.
Oklahoma City trailed 16-4 early in Game 1 and 9-0 in Game 2 at home. “Coming on the road, you don’t want to do that,” Donovan said after the Thunder’s shootaround Saturday.
That’s because it logically would be more difficult for the Thunder to come back the way they did at home, with runs of 12-0 in Game 1 and 9-0 in Game 2.
Oklahoma City scored the first basket of Game 1 after a Jazz turnover, only to have the Jazz outscore them 11-0 and 16-2 as Donovan Mitchell got going early. In Game 2, Oklahoma City’s turnovers enabled the Jazz to score the game’s first nine points, before the Thunder quickly tied the game.
Donovan’s timeouts allowed his team to “just kind of let the jitters go, let the game slow down, and then start playing our game,” Thunder forward Paul George said. “That works every time.”
And the runs basically evened out, in a short span. The teams were tied 25-25 after the first quarter of Game 1; the Jazz had a 26-25 edge in Game 2.
“Obviously, we dug ourselves a hole,” Donovan said. “But our guys have responded.”
Donovan deserved credit for reversing the momentum in each game, without saying much. The Thunder starters were out of the huddle and propped against the scorers’ table with more than a minute remaining in each timeout. The messages clearly got through.
The entire series had been characterized by big swings, going into Game 3. In Game 2, the Jazz answered Oklahoma City’s 19-0 run in the third quarter with an 18-3 surge, carrying into the fourth quarter of their 102-95 victory.
In that case, Jazz coach Quin Snyder said, “Our guys really responded.”
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