And so it began, at last.
The Utah Jazz commenced in earnest on playoff Saturday on what they have been aiming at and for — trying the impossible, to concurrently remember and forget the past — since that sorry day of Friday, June 18, 2021. The day their misery set like dried concrete, around their feet, their hands, their heads, their competitive spirits, with an elimination loss to the Clippers.
Everything that happened between then and Game 1 in Dallas was an attempt to prepare to fix what was broken, to heal what hurt, to find whatever redemption bits of better basketball could bring.
The Jazz said they saved weapons, had new strategies to do so.
What were those weapons, those strategies?
“We kept our aggression, that’s key for us,” Quin Snyder said.
Well. There was much more.
How about, for starters, this? … Have Donovan Mitchell play like a spasmodic blind man through the first half, relying on Bojan Bogdanovic to save them, to keep them close over that span. Have Mitchell work his wonders in the third period, scoring 19 points. Watch Mitchell go up and down and all around with his play through the fourth as the Jazz squandered a double-digit lead, but held on at the end for a 99-93 victory.
Whew.
Not exactly great weaponry, nor blow-you-away strategy, especially considering the absence of the injured Luka Doncic. But the Jazz would take the win, in large measure by way of something that was not new at all — the dominant presence of Rudy Gobert at the defensive end. He was everything a DPOY should be. And when the Mavs went small, the Jazz killed them on the boards (53-34, overall).
At some point in these playoffs, though, Mitchell will have to be more of a star than he was on this occasion. Let’s review what he did, something I normally wouldn’t do here. But because he is so critical to the Jazz’s playoff success, it’s worth the detailed revisitation. Follow the bouncing — and caroming off-target — ball.
First quarter:
He missed a deep jumper from straightaway … missed a contested drive to the hoop … missed a shot on a run inside, after fiddling-and-faddling around out front, as the Mavs’ home crowd howled … a completed pass to a teammate … doubled, so he passed to an open O’Neale, who missed … fouled as he dribbled … missed on a drive with a soap-on-a-rope left-handed squib shot on the left side of the basket (a bloop at the hoop) … went to the bench, with the Jazz down 21-16.
Second quarter:
He entered with the Jazz trailing 30-22 … missed a 15-foot jumper from the right … allowed Jordan Clarkson and especially Bogdanovic to do their work … played some decent defense …drove to the basket, getting his shot blocked, which led to a transition basket for Dallas … hit a turnaround fadeaway jumper for his first basket with just over five minutes left in the half … fed Bogdanovic for a missed 3 … picked up a foul defending against Jalen Brunson, who made two free throws … missed a wide-open 3 … barked instructions to teammates … collected a couple of assists … missed a floater … chucked an assist to Bogdanovic for 3 at the buzzer.
The Jazz somehow led 45-43 at the break.
In the third, Mitchell, while imperfect, suddenly transformed himself into hints of the player he can be:
He hit a 2-pointer, after having the ball knocked loose … ran to the basket for 2 … missed a perimeter shot fading to his left … after being fouled, hit one of two free throws for a 53-51 Jazz lead … drove to the basket, was hammered, registered a 3-point play … missed a careless, unwise 3-point attempt … made a step-back 3-pointer that luckily banked in … missed a whirling jumper … missed a deep 3 … scored on a transition drive … missed a contested layup … soared for a thunder dunk on a fast-break … attacked the basket, bouncing the ball in for 2 … hit two free throws … had a shot at the rim blocked … turned the ball over on a bad pass … was called for traveling.
Fourth quarter:
Came off the bench … back on the floor, argued a call against the Jazz for having six men on the court … missed a shot, Jazz clinging to 75-71 lead … hit a 3 for 78-71 lead … drove through the entire Mavs defense for 2 … missed a short shot, rebounded, was fouled, hit two of two free throws … missed a midrange jumper … missed another jumper … stole ball, leading to a Mike Conley basket, giving Jazz a four-point lead … missed at the rim, Jazz clinging to one-point margin … hit two foul shots … hit two more free throws to close out the game.
What’s to make of all that?
Hmm. A win is a win is a win, especially in the playoffs.
But Mitchell will have to be better than a sloppy 32 points on 10-for-29 shooting for the Jazz to flourish in this postseason, which has been, as mentioned, their goal, all along. He quarterbacked the team for most of the important minutes, and deserved accolades for that.
If Bogdanovic hadn’t played the way he did (26 points), the Jazz would have lost this initial game, even with Dallas playing without Doncic.
And Bogdanovic was big when he had to be. The Jazz were smart to search him out both on the perimeter and with his back to the basket, from where he used myriad crafty moves to get and make open looks.
If the Jazz’s playoff strategy on offense is to rely on the sharpshooting Croatian when Mitchell sucks, and then to allow timely, if sporadic, contributions from Clarkson, as well as Conley and Royce O’Neale, each of whom made huge buckets down the stretch, including a big bomb from O’Neale on a critical late possession, maybe that’s good enough.
Maybe.
Particularly as long as Gobert controls a sizable measure of the game with his resistance and with his rebounding (17 boards).
What exactly did Game 1 prove?
It wasn’t the all-healing experience for which the Jazz might have hoped, given how long they’d waited to extinguish the feeling of playoff failure suffered for so long.
They did not run smoothly here, sending up too many blanks at the one end and fouling too much at the other. They struggled to hold onto a double-digit lead that had been methodically built into the fourth quarter. They gave up that lead via an 11-2 run by the Mavs down the stretch. They handled the ball, at times, as though it were loaded with dynamite.
But … they won.
And despite the win, regardless of getting off on the right foot, as far as victory goes, the Jazz also know it means little. They know they’ve stood on that foot before in playoff series past — and lost their balance.
They know as they study Game 1, they’ll see mostly the hole, not the doughnut, which is precisely what they should see. A win like this against an injured opponent isn’t enough, not just because it’s one small part of a best-of-seven series, but rather because a search-and-rescue effort will not get their job done over the long haul.
What they need is a steady climb — from everyone, especially Mitchell.
The postgame reaction for them seemed … appropriate, satisfied and relieved in the singular, but far from fatheaded or fulfilled.
They’re aware their first effort was flawed.
All of it, regardless, was a positive setup for what comes next. The Jazz are clear that each playoff game is an issue unto itself, having tasted the bitter pill of lost momentum after early gains in those infamous lost playoff series against Denver in the bubble and the Clippers in June.
Where they go from here is up to them. But they appear to intend on keeping the concerns and commotion of those former failures exactly where they must stay, the way they view it — in the past.
They’ve done enough remembering, looking ahead now to complete their erasing, their exorcising, to continue their forgetting, wiping their slate clean and eventually healing themselves en route.
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