Northwest Notes: Jazz, Mitchell, Wolves, Nuggets

After evening their first-round playoff matchup with a gutty 100-99 Game 4 win over the Mavericks in Utah, the Jazz proceeded to get blown out in a blistering 102-77 Game 5 loss on the road. Tony Jones of The Athletic considers the listless loss to be just the newest indignity for a solid squad with a patchy postseason record.

“Our mindset, it was disappointing,” All-Star center Rudy Gobert said. “I felt like we didn’t respond to their energy and their intensity. I felt like we didn’t respond to their focus. They just outplayed us.”

Jones notes that the Jazz have struggled all year through erratic performances and an easy susceptibility to tougher teams. Though Jones considers Utah talented enough to win at least its next home contest, Game 6, he wonders if the team will be able to overcome its issues to defeat a hungry Dallas club.

“We have to do a better job of moving the basketball and playing the right way,” said Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic. “I thought we played well enough offensively. I just thought we had to do a better job of moving the basketball.”

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

  • Should they lose early in these playoffs, the Jazz face an uncertain summer, and could move on some of their top players. According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, all signs points to Utah owner Ryan Smith, in his second season with the team, wanting to hold onto All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell over any other core team personnel.
  • The Timberwolves have struggled to defend second-year Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane, who has been shooting lights-out from long range during the two teams’ first-round series, writes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Hine notes that Minnesota’s priority on defense has been stopping All-Star point guard Ja Morant, leaving Bane open. “Sometimes you can’t cover it all,” Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said following the team’s 119-118 victory in Game 4. “We got to just find him a little quicker. He does a really good job of moving into the right space when you’re in rotation. He’s got a quick release and deep range. I think sometimes his range catches our guys off guard a little bit.” Bane has shot 18-of-35 from long range across the last three games in the series. After tonight, Memphis leads Minnesota 3-2 in their series.
  • The Nuggets, with their backs against the wall down 3-1 to the Warriors, hope to extend their first-round series employing the same chippy fight they had during their recent two-game home stand, per Mike Singer of the Denver Post. “We’re not backing down from anybody,” Denver forward Aaron Gordon said at a team practice this week. The club amped up the contact against Golden State in two physical contests at Ball Arena. “I would say our physicality definitely improved from Games 1 and 2 to 3 and 4,” reserve Nuggets center DeMarcus Cousins said of the team’s tactical shift. “One thing we did know about ourselves was we were the reason we were losing those (first three) games.”
View Comments (9)