2020-21 Regular season- The tax team

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Ava Wallace: Scott Brooks says he’s been told Beal’s back tightness is not related to his hip injury. “Don’t think it’s going to be lasting, I’m hoping that a day off today and a day off tomorrow, he’ll be back against Utah… that’s the hope.”
– via Twitter avarwallace

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Justin Kubatko: Donovan Mitchell has scored at least 35 points in each of his last three games: 41 37 42 Mitchell is the first @Utah Jazz player to record at least three straight 35-point games since Karl Malone in 1992-93. pic.twitter.com/Sd6c4RRqRC
– via Twitter jkubatko

bet he's the first to take 30 shots in two of them to get it

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https://kslsports.com/457314/jazz-gu...in-over-kings/

The Jazz sorely missed Jordan Clarkson as they struggled to maintain a consistent offensive attack, but were carried by Donovan Mitchell’s enormous 30 point second half which came amid active conversations between the guard and Kings bench.

The Kings scored 47 in the 2nd half. Way to carry them!

Mitchell was just 5-28 over the last three games from deep as the entire team has struggled to shoot the ball, but the Jazz rebounded by shooting 36 percent from three after opening the game 0-5, and connected on on 18 of their final 45 attempts.

but he's carrying them!

But while Mitchell, Ingles, and Conley turned in enormous performances, it’s clear the Jazz are missing Jordan Clarkson, the front runner for Sixth Man of the Year who has missed the last two games with an ankle sprain.

not clear to me

Georges Niang who scored 12 points off the bench for the Jazz described what the team is missing without Clarkson.

12 from Niang without playing 1 on 5

The Kings had one of the better performances against Rudy Gobert that the Jazz have seen so far this season. Richaun Holmes scored 25 for Sacramento while Gobert was held to just six points on two field-goal attempts.

and the Kings scored 47 in the 2nd half against Rudy and company. Way to get the best of him!

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https://www.ksl.com/article/50144148...over-the-kings

"He was creating for other people," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "And a lot of times when you do that you're the one that ends up with the shot."

too bad Mitchell can't LEAD that way

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https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2...-team-donovan/

Tonight, he had 42 points, while not even having a spectacular game: he only shot 12-31 after all, only 3-12 from three. We’ve certainly seen a lot better.

hard not to be better

Tonight, the Jazz needed Mitchell to carry that load. With Sacramento switching every screen, the Jazz’s ball movement got a little bit stagnant. Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic didn’t have much isolation success, and Jordan Clarkson was out due to an ankle sprain, so they really needed Mitchell to be relatively efficient tonight even while taking a lot of shots.

how can their be ball movement when one guy brings the ball up the court and shoots it and no one else touches the ball?

And he was. Sure, the 3-point shot was inconsistent, but he had the drive game going. Richaun Holmes actually can block a decent number of shots — he’s seventh in the NBA this year in that category — but Mitchell uses his body well to prevent it here.

and the best shooter in the league is wide open in his favorite spot!

But really, the big key was getting to the free-throw line a whopping seventeen times. Take this play, for example: Moe Harkless is a relatively good defender, but he’s using the handcheck trick to try to slow Mitchell’s path to the rim. So Mitchell draws attention to the contact by gathering, then drawing the ball up underneath that arm. Now, it’s not just a side-out foul, either; it’s two free-throws.

Ingles and Bojan wide open

That being said, Mitchell tricking opponents works best when playing, literally, the worst defense in league history. (At least, the Kings have the worst defensive rating in league history right now, though we’re in an offensive golden age.)

to be that horrible against such a bad D

I thought, to a large degree, Joe Ingles came in the game and changed this. He was the big thing that got the Jazz’s blender going again. As Snyder put it, the Jazz need to “really play with quick decisions and 0.5 second reads — not shot fake — and drive into a gap to get someone else a shot.” Ingles does all of those things.

Yep 3rd quarter with Mitchell on the bench. Now that's fun basketball to watch

The other thing is that the other Jazzmen started to move off the ball in productive ways after those switches. During the Jazz’s big early deficit, Snyder (according to Georges Niang) said that the team wasn’t doing anything to help Conley and Mitchell in their isolation plays. Instead, they needed to still give the iso scorer another option after the switch. Hence, something like this:

Like Mitchell cares about other options. You saw him in the above highlites and he ignored them for a tough shot

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https://www.deseret.com/2021/4/10/22...-of-the-season

A quick pre-note note: When the Jazz are playing pretty horribly and there are a lot of sloppy possessions, but they put together just a few minutes of good basketball, just enough to beat a bad team, it’s hard to say whether it was good or bad altogether.

Mitchell and Bojan are playing horribly as usual

When the Jazz are engaged on defense and their spacing is where it is supposed to be they really do look unstoppable. Honestly, even when they are missing the shots, if they are the right shots there’s not a lot to be mad at. They had a short run in the third quarter, and then another one to close the fourth, where things were clicking pretty nicely. The way the Jazz closed out the game was the highest note for them.

yep. Unfortunately Clarkson will be back and Mitchell and Bojan will still be in there

Conley, who added 26 points in the win, was the most steadying force for the Jazz in the game. The Jazz went 0-of-8 from the field and 1-of-4 from the free throw line before Conley threw Rudy Gobert a lob for their first bucket. They’d gone nearly five minutes without hitting a shot. When they went 0-of-7 from 3-point range to start the game it was Conley who broke that drought.

Too bad the ball isn't always in Mike and Joe's hands

On the Kings side of things, Richaun Holmes had just an incredible game with 25 points, 10 rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal. Through the majority of the game he was making Gobert look pretty bad and was just the more energized of the two.

and half of it came while Rudy was on the bench before Rudy shut him down in the 2nd

There really are quite a few things not to like about how the Jazz played. But let’s start with the offensive spacing. Without Jordan Clarkson creating shooting opportunities for the second unit, and with both O’Neale and Bogdanovic seeming to want to drive more than shoot from outside, the ball was not moving and that makes it really difficult to get open shots, not to mention anything for Gobert in the paint. The Jazz are not a team that operates well with the paint clogged and the Kings’ defense seemed to recognize that pretty early on and used their switches to make things even more difficult.

mostly Mitchell's selfish play

Georges Niang hit a 3 midway through the fourth quarter and then was backpedaling down the court talking trash to the Kings bench, but then ran over Mo Harkless and fell straight on his rear. That’s not how you want to cap off a good play.

was classic Georges!

The Jazz would probably do well to come out to start a game the way the Kings did.

but that would mean their superstar passing the ball

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https://www.slcdunk.com/2021/4/10/22...cramento-kings

Is there any other person you could give it to? Setting aside a forgettable first-half in terms of efficiency, Mitchell tied his season high of 42 points (and stashing his second 40-point outing in the past three tries). He needed 31 shots, a shadow of his poor first half, but went 15 of 17 from the free-throw line. The makes at the line tied a career high while the attempts set a new career-best mark.

the guy that led the defense to shut down the Kings in the 2nd half? The guy that got them rolling offensively in the 3rd(Ingles)?

Couldn't watch it again

but I don’t like the boxscore much. Bojan still in a slump and Donovan taking more shots than the rest of the starters combined won’t take the Jazz very far when it matters. This team is good when seven players are scoring in double digits. The encouraging points are Joe taking shots confidently and Minivan having a good run but 36% from three against a bad perimeter defense is just decent. A shoot out is ok when you shoot better than the opponent, at 41% that was the case most of the time, recently not so much.
If the opposite team packs the paint and gives away open threes so be it (seeing Rudy and Derrick taking only six shots makes me think it was the case) but I’m not convinced this team is able to beat another contender with three starters scoring a combined 19 points.

Posted by Bigfee on Apr 11, 2021 | 1:57 AM

someone gets it

Jazz tried to share the ball in the first half. Mitchell had only 12 points at half time. Jazz down 6. In the second half, Mitchell picked up his shot count and usage time. Jazz outscore the Kings by 22.
Are you sure you know what you are asking for? Ideally, everybody would be playing well so the ball could be shared more and we could have seven players scoring in double digits. But you need to keep your eye on the prize which is getting a win. When Gobert is not getting any shots because of the way the defense is playing or if O’Neale/Oni aren’t scoring because they’re just missing open shots or if one of those scorers is on the bench because of an ankle injury; well, I don’t know about you but I’m glad Mitchell played the way he did last night. If the point came where he just said "I’d better let the other guys get theirs so we can have seven double digit scorers," the Jazz lose last night.
There are times when they are a better team because one of the guys steps up and takes over. The Jazz have had huge scoring nights from Mitchell, Clarkson, Conley, Ingles, Gobert, and even Niang and it’s a good thing they had the talent to step up with the others are misfiring. The strength of the Jazz offense isn’t getting seven double digit scorers every game but that any of seven players can step up with 25+ points when needed.

Posted by jmnunes5 on Apr 11, 2021 | 10:11 AM

How were they trying to share the ball when Mitchell comes down and shoots while his teammates stand around watching?

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https://sircharlesincharge.com/2021/...ll-disrespect/

For being the best player on the best team, record-wise, in the NBA, Donovan Mitchell has not gotten much consideration for the NBA’s MVP award. Generally, the best player on the best team is usually one of the favorites to win the award.

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Harrison Wind: Michael Malone on being overlooked in the West: “Utah’s having a great season, talk about Utah. When the Lakers are healthy they have two of the top-5 players in the world, talk about the Lakers. The Clippers have so much talent across their roster, so talk about those guys.”
– via Twitter HarrisonWind

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Andy Larsen: Jazz say Jordan Clarkson is still doubtful for tomorrow’s game. Also, Mike Conley is out due to hamstring management, they’ll play him on Tuesday instead on the B2B.
– via Twitter andyblarsen

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Ava Wallace: Bradley Beal (back tightness) is probable for tomorrow’s game at the Jazz.
– via Twitter avarwallace

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https://kslsports.com/457364/shortha...ainst-wizards/

Mitchell is averaging 40 points per game over his last three outings and could become only the third player in Jazz history to score at least 37 points in four straight games if he can reach the mark against the Wizards.

and the only one with 30 att in at least two of them!

The Jazz will likely have to rely more heavily on guard Miye Oni who played 12 minutes in the team’s win over the Kings. Quin Snyder could also opt to turn to two-way guard Trent Forrest for extra backcourt minutes to preserve the team’s standard rotation on the front end of a back-t0-back.

Morgan or Ersan or stfu!

Despite Westbrook’s eye-popping numbers, the Wizards are just 5-13 in their last 18 games and own the 12th seed in the Eastern Conference.

big surprise

Gobert had an unimposing 10 points and 13 rebounds in the Jazz loss to Washington in March and will have to provide better rim protection at home to extend the team’s win streak.

maybe he needs more help on the perimeter which he son't have with Conley out

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https://www.slcdunk.com/2021/4/12/22...sell-westbrook

I am genuinely curious about this one. If I were a betting man my money would be on Trent Forrest who seems to always be the 1st man off the bench for garbage time for Snyder. Who would I like it to be? Elijah Hughes.

by far the worst guy on the team why not!

Hughes, in the short minutes that he’s played, has shown a lot of potential. In garbage time and other select minutes in preseason, Hughes has shown a polished offensive game that only seems to improve. He’s making the right passes on offense to the corner three and he’s also able to make a pull-up three with relative ease. At worst Hughes can take a corner three and knock it down with regularity.

where are you getting this? He isn't a 3 point shooter and couldn't even ball in the Gleague

Snyder will likely go with Forrest, but here’s to hoping Hughes gets a chance.

Should be Morgan or Ersan. I'd also go with Brantley or the new guy before the rookies as well

I agree it will be fun to see where Mike and JC’s 27 shots a game go to. A lot of opportunities and I hope some of the youngsters are given a shot, literally.

Posted by SKMike on Apr 12, 2021 | 1:56 PM

most will go to Mitchell

10 yrs ago was worse

every thread was about how corbin doesn’t know long twos are inefficient and how hes ruining kanter, burks, etc by not giving them minutes
dark days

Posted by letter to the Corinthians on Apr 12, 2021 | 4:37 PM

The merits of John Lucas the 3 used to dominate game threads lol

Posted by SKMike on Apr 12, 2021 | 4:38 PM

yeah

dont forget how most hated any minutes howard or foye got
the al the conqueror was way funny tho

Posted by letter to the Corinthians on Apr 12, 2021 | 4:47 PM

all Ty did was get a team led by Jefferson to the playoffs and just missed the next year. Liked Foye and Howard

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https://www.slcdunk.com/2021/4/12/22...ions-this-year

Donovan Mitchell, scoring 26+ points, grabbing 4+ boards, and dishing 5+ assists on above average TS efficiency (0.568) is neck and neck with the top offensive players in terms of volume.

above average sounds like MVP to me

Jazz fan stalwart, Mark, pointed out that very fact. Either the Jazz have a bonafide MVP candidate or Quin Snyder is having one of the greatest coaching seasons of all time.

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https://saltcityhoops.com/sc7-rootin...uts-3pt-slump/

No matter how you guard the multi-faceted Suns, you give something up. On Wednesday, it was rebounds. The Jazz applied more pressure on midrange wizards Paul and Devin Booker, but that brought big men away from the paint and allowed the Suns to capture a whopping 31.6% of their misses. Here’s what’s peculiar, though: in the dozen times this season that the Jazz have allowed an opponent an OReb% of 30 or greater, that was their only loss.

not the MVP!

By the end of his current 3-year deal, Favors will likely catch Deron Williams, who is just 313 points ahead of him. That would be a poetic feat, since Favors was the headliner in the package Utah got when they decided to trade DWill back in 2011. He might even catch Gordon Hayward (814 ahead), which would also be fitting since those two once shared the spotlight as Utah’s two best young players.

hopefully he's gone before next year starts

Jazz 128, Blazers 112: Donovan Mitchell. An assassin during this 37-4-5 performance. Mitchell scored 13 and was a +20 in the decisive third period, and actually played some of the game’s best defense to boot. (Portland players shot 2-for-8 when Mitchell was the closest defender.) Gobert had another ridiculous 18-and-20 double-double. But in this one it was actually the Mitchell-led hybrid units that did most of the damage.

34 shots or 20 boards?

Jazz 128, Kings 112: Joe Ingles. How can a guy get 42 and NOT be the easy game ball choice? The plurality of Twitter votes told me I was not crazy to recognize Ingles’ unique impact on this game, and even Mitchell himself gave Ingles credit for turning the game around. In straight “game MVP” terms, this would easily be Don. But narrative matters, too, and we’ll remember that game for the way a chatty Ingles changed the tenor of the contest. Somebody riled up the competitive Ingles, inspiring him to drop five threes, six assists and 20 points (on just 11 shots). He was a +27, and when the Jazz got behind by 10, he scored 11 of the team’s points in a 20-3 run to put Utah in control. (Mitchell and Conley took over from there, scoring 17 of the final 18 Jazz points.)

how about 47 points by the Kings in 2nd half!

Jazz 113, Suns 117: Donovan Mitchell. Easy. Mitchell willed the Jazz into overtime with a 13-point fourth quarter (including the tying three on the last play of regulation), and finished with 41 points and eight boards. Gobert was really good again (16 & 18, 7/7 shooting, great defense against a roster that forces him to play a bit differently), and Favors was sneaky impactful.

wouldn't have been ab ot if he showed up in first half or played D