Round 2!

[Xiao Yao You]

Tim MacMahon: Rudy Gobert: “We know that we have to be a dominant defensive team in order to win and it starts with me. There’s a lot of times when guys went at me and I didn’t stop them. So it starts with me, and then, as a team. … The urgency wasn’t there.”
– via Twitter espn_macmahon




“This is something we’ve conditioned ourselves to do,” McMillan said. “In the fourth quarter, look at where we are, make our adjustments and try to finish strong. These guys just don’t give up. They continue to fight.”
– via Jeff Zillgitt @ USA Today Sports

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.ksl.com/article/50188622...w-for-the-jazz

"Donovan is giving it his all, playing on one leg. I cannot believe guys like Ingles and ONeal don't bust their buns on every play." — 1980relived

O'Neale lays it all out there at both ends while Mitchell takes defense off. Seriously?

It's not the best pass by Gobert, but both Donovan Mitchell and Joe Ingles are initially in a better position to get the ball. Yet, Terrence Mann doesn't let them both get to it — he beats them easily and then goes and gets an uncontested layup. Mitchell has somewhat of an excuse due to playing on an obviously injured ankle. But what about Ingles? The play occurred in the first three minutes into what may have been the biggest game of his NBA life.

that one was bad

Mitchell is ailing, no doubt, but that shouldn't be the reason for him to miss obvious reads. In the opening minute, Mitchell drove to the paint and drew a crowd of three Clippers. He stepped between two of them and had O'Neale a few feet away for a wide-open 3. He chose instead to fire a pass through traffic to the opposite corner, which, not surprisingly, ended in a turnover.

that's what he does

Trying to draw a touch foul 30-feet out against a player who the officials have allowed to be as physical as he's wanted all series (much to the chagrin of Jazz fans) is not the smartest choice.

but he's the greatest player in Jazz history when he's hitting that shot!

The Jazz were down 9 in the fourth quarter of what felt like a must-win playoff game, and Clarkson fired up an off-balanced fade-away 20-footer with 15 seconds on the shot clock? Utah has to be better than that.

only way they'll be better is by not playing Clarkson. Now he's shooting long 2's again like he didn't suck enough!

You don't have to go back too far to find another contender. Utah had complete control of the series, and complete control in Game 5, before everything fell apart. The Jazz lost Games 5 and 6 by double digits and then scored just 78 points in Game 7 as Mike Conley's potential game-winning 3-pointer rimmed out.

Mitchell with the 8 second call

Utah had the best home record in the league but were eliminated on its home court in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals in what was Utah's best team with Deron Williams.

bad matchup

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.ksl.com/article/50188092...-2-series-lead

"Maybe the fatigue, maybe the fact that Kawhi (Leonard) didn't play, it could be many things," Gobert said. "I just felt like — we know that we have to be a dominant defensive team in order to win."

You and I know it. Everyone else thinks it's all about 3's

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.ksl.com/article/50188138...lay-through-it

"I mean it (expletive) sucks. I ain't got nothing else to say," Mitchell said. "It's tough when you're trying different things that you normally do and you see spots you can get to but you can't, so you gotta find a way to make it happen. It's tough but I gotta find a way — otherwise I'm gonna be home."

what really sucks is that the team doctors knew this but you and your team knew better and forced your way back into the lineup

"This is a learning process and it sucks to learn this through the playoffs, but it is what it is and no excuses," Mitchell said. "So just being able to kind of bait the blitz, know when to attack and kind of just slow down a little bit. I think that's what I've been doing throughout the entire playoffs because obviously I can't really move."

Maybe you are the greatest player in Jazz history. Karl Malone used to make excuses and than say no excuses too

With him playing on one leg, the Jazz likely won't be able to move on in the playoffs, either. Mitchell was 0 for 4 in the final two minutes Wednesday and settled for deep 3-point attempts that rarely were close.

They'll have two legs next game with Conley!

Mitchell's interest, though, as seen with the injury debacle before the first game of the playoffs, is to play — pain or no pain.

yeah and that got them here. They didn't need him to beat Memphis. Should have rested and shut up about it until the doctors said it was time

[Xiao Yao You]

https://kslsports.com/461678/george-...ch-up-to-jazz/

Though Bogdanovic scored 32 points and tied a franchise record with nine made threes, ultimately it wasn’t enough without Mitchell playing at a superstar level to regain control of the series.

play some D and stop saying it's all about Mitchell

Also gone is Mitchell’s superstardom. Through no fault of his own, Mitchell’s ankle has abandoned him, and without the ability to chip in 45 and 37 point performances, the Jazz managed to score only 111 points in the loss.

how is no fault of his own? The Jazz doctors didn't him to play game 2 against Memphis but they had to keep him and his team happy. **** him!

“With the series as close as it is and as tight as it is, I think that [a return] this series is possible, depending on the situation, obviously,” Conley said early Wednesday, “I’ve played through a lot of things in my career and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.”

only reason for him not to play is if they think they will be worse with him on the court. It's do or die

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.deseret.com/2021/6/17/22...s-nba-playoffs

Miye Oni isn’t a top option for the postseason, but in spot minutes he is what the Jazz have. I’ll say this about his effort on the boards; when Oni is flying in and tapping trying to get an offensive rebound, it doesn’t always end the right way, but just him getting a hand on the ball slows down the other team and keeps them from running open in transition.

He's what COTY chooses not what they have

After having such an aggressive start to the game, O’Neale looked like a different player later in the game. He was hesitant and wasn’t getting up as intentionally on rebounds and was worked over too many times while he was on defense. The Jazz need him to be good on that side so badly. What’s worse is that he had a hard fall and seemed like he wasn’t able to move as well after that. Hopefully he’s not added to the list of Jazz players that is hobbled.

he's always banged up

Donovan Mitchell is doing his absolute best to play through pain and while it’s admirable and impressive, it’s just not fun to watch a guy with his talent not be able to do what he normally does.

him and his guys said he was ready!

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.deseret.com/2021/6/16/22...rd-mike-conley

it simply wasn’t enough for a team that relies so heavily on its outside shooting.

that's the problem. Have to get to the rim and make the other team pick their poison

In both of Utah’s losses to LA in Southern California, the Clippers were able to make the Jazz an isolation team. They did it again to the Jazz Wednesday night, as Utah’s ‘blender’ couldn’t really get going. Utah finished with only 15 assists as a team, while the Clippers, who prefer isolation offense, ended the game with 17. Mitchell, the Jazz’s main answer in isolation situations, struggled much of the night, his ankle injury clearly hampering him.

Mitchell and Clarkson make them an iso team

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.slcdunk.com/2021/6/16/22...lippers-game-5

One thing is for sure, you can still count on Quin Snyder running out Derrick Favors, Georges Niang and Mye Oni as a second unit. Favors was a -7, Niang a -4 and Oni a -8. For Favors, who was given the full MLE this offseason, to be -7 in 6 minutes of play is just utterly demoralizing. There is no end in sight for that contract either, you just have to figure things out. The Jazz still have a chance in this series, but things are looking bleak, perhaps there’s some sort of miracle in store for the Jazz because that’s what it appears it’s going to take for a different outcome in LA.

it was all Bradley's fault! Ersan showed he was one of their best players and Oni certainly hasn't looked like he is head and shoulders over Morgan and Brantley and not even Forrest if you want another non shooter out there.

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.slcdunk.com/the-downbeat...rt-mike-conley

May as well get used to the team as is

Front office has built us into a mess.
Next season team cap stays the same even losing Conleys bloated salary. We stay at 8th place in NBA without any acquisitions.

Rudy goes from 26m to 34m
Don goes from 5m to 28m
Bogey goes from 17m to 18m
Ingles goes from 10m to 12m
Royce goes from 8.5m to 8.8m
Favors goes from 9.2m to 9.7m
Clarkson goes from 11.5m to 12.4m

Guys who are not guaranteed next season
Oni would be 1.7m
Thomas would be 1.7m
Guys who are FA next season
Conley
Ersan
Brantley
Morgan
Niang
Forrest
It won’t be until 23/24 season that we have any serious cap room the way the roster is currently constructed.

Posted by Matt_Grbac on Jun 17, 2021 | 12:14 PM

the bigger problem is 4 or 5? more years of Mitchell. 2 more of Bojan. 2 more of Favors. 3 more of Clarkson. Niang is gone. Morgan and Brantley would be stupid to stay

Not having a full roster for the playoffs makes it hard to know if we were good enough, or close enough to bring it back again. Posted by SKMike on Jun 17, 2021 | 12:43 PM

and that will be their excuse not to make the big changes that need to made starting with the Wizard and COTY

A disaster, a total meltdown. In my opinion it was because we had a lack of quality depth. Bogey was out and we had a ragtag group of gleaguers replacing him. This year same freaking thing. Going to lose being up 2-0 because of a lack of quality depth.

We have gotten ourselves into a predicament with our roster management. We can’t go get quality bench pieces. We are stuck with this core of players, who quite frankly are not good enough without better subs.

Posted by Matt_Grbac on Jun 17, 2021 | 1:16 PM

same problem as this year. COTY not willing to change anything. Brantley, Tucker and Oni would ahve guarded Murray better than Mitchell, Clarkson or Conley

GSW probably would have beat TOR if they only lost one all-star. Losing two is probably impossible to overcome, even for an all-time great team like GSW.

Posted by Palmetto Bug on Jun 17, 2021 | 2:57 PM

no they don't

we need to draft the next Milsap in the 2nd round

or find a Royce, Ingles, or a Wesley Mathews
and give them some mins with starters to develop asap instead of rot on bench like our scrubs
Q’s short rotations are not easy on players in the long run as they increase odds of injury


Posted by statpower on Jun 17, 2021 | 2:46 PM

they have some young guys now that could help. The fact that he keeps running the same guys out there regardless for two straight years is a joke!

The coaching staff didn’t seem to have a plan beyond "hit contested shots at a beyond ridiculous rate, and let DM take over, on one leg, in the second half." Gotta do better than that at this stage. I love checkers. But that’s some checkers against chess shit. Posted by hamfist on Jun 17, 2021 | 1:36 PM

and COTY will probably get an extension for his efforts. The hope now is that the new owner will finally bring the big changes to the organization that have been needed for decades. Ainge?

Carlisle out in Dallas - think that's 7 coaches gone this year.

Bit of a surprise – I wonder if he has something lined up already. GM yesterday, coach today.

Posted by SKMike on Jun 17, 2021 | 2:23 PM
If UTA didn’t have Snyder I would love to see them bring in Carlisle.

Posted by Palmetto Bug on Jun 17, 2021 | 3:16 PM

Ainge and Carlisle? Please!

If Donney rested after game 2, he may be better equipped tomorrow with 1 week of healing
I just hope he didnt do permenant damage to his ankles (DWILL 2.0 after he landed on Derrick Rose’s foot )


Posted by statpower on Jun 17, 2021 | 2:42 PM

if he listened to the team doctors who knows

[Xiao Yao You]

https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/16/ut...lone-stockton/

Above all, both guys were members of the famed 1992 NBA Dream Team that won gold in the Barcelona Olympics. Donovan Mitchell has yet to even participate in an Olympic event. He might, but right now, he hasn’t, and that’s taken into consideration when making this abundantly clear. Furthermore, in terms of the greatest Jazz player ever, need we also mention Pete “Pistol Pete” Maravich?

A.D., Deron, Gobert. Mitchell isn't in the conversation

[Xiao Yao You]

The Magic have begun their interview process, sources said, but their coaching search is expected to be wide-ranging and almost certainly will include candidates in addition to Green, Hammon, Kidd, Lee, Udoka and Unseld. Tyrone Corbin, Pat Delany and Steve Hetzel — assistant coaches under Clifford who currently remain under contract with Orlando — could be interviewed, if they haven’t been interviewed already. Many league insiders who work for other teams think the Magic could have interest in as many as three members of the LA Clippers’ coaching staff: associate head coach Dan Craig and assistant coaches Kenny Atkinson and Chauncey Billups.
– via Josh Robbins @ The Athletic

[El Kabong]

https://www.ksl.com/article/50188092...-2-series-lead



You and I know it. Everyone else thinks it's all about 3's

Bad mindset to be in thinking you can just shoot your way out of trouble. May work in the regular season, but that shit won't fly in the playoffs, even in today's league. Gotta make stops at some point cause the shot won't always be falling no matter how good you are.

[Xiao Yao You]

https://kslsports.com/461760/jazz-ga...ation-mailbag/

Furthermore, this is the rotation Snyder has used all year, even when Conley went down for 21 games during the regular season, and the Jazz went 15-6 during that stretch. That’s a pretty good batting average.

and could have been even better if he played his best guys

With a long list of wings and perimeter players already on the roster, the Jazz erred on the side of familiarity by signing Favors and giving him the full MLE. That didn’t leave a lot of money for a wing defender outside of Shaq Harrison, who they signed during training camp.

and was stupid.

Harrison was never able to crack the rotation and was waived by midseason, and Favors gave the Jazz good, but not spectacular play for most of the season. At this point, Favors $10 million per season looks like it might be a tough pill to swallow for the next two years.

looked that way when they signed him and still didn't have a 4

Then, when Udoka Azubuike went down with a severe ankle injury, while rookie defensive wings like Desmond Bane and Jaden McDaniels showed promise throughout the season, it made the decision to draft a third-string center with a first-round draft pick look even worse.

no center is what they needed. A rookie wasn't going to play

Additionally, not using the bi-annual exception remains a strange choice over the last two seasons, especially with some of the low-cost players in the postseason right now that are making impacts on their teams.

but than you wouldn't have Hughes! The most puzzling of them all

Overall, signing Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and Clarkson to extensions were big wins, some of the moves around those pieces have yet to pan out.

Clarkson not a win and Mitchell remains to be seen

A lot of these moves are coin tosses, sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t.

and outside Gobert the Jazz usually lose

Had Ilyasova spent more time in the rotation maybe he’d be playing more in the playoffs, but with the Jazz chasing the top seed and the team winning at a high rate, perhaps the opportunity never presented itself.

which is a joke. He's been one of their best players when he played. Only reason I can see not playing him because he fouls

However, the Jazz may cap how much they’re willing to throw at him, understanding his struggles in these playoffs, while another team is willing to pay a higher price to add an elite shooter to their roster.

he's gone. Have to pay Mitchell, Favors, Clarkson, Bojan and Hughes!

[Xiao Yao You]

Bad mindset to be in thinking you can just shoot your way out of trouble. May work in the regular season, but that shit won't fly in the playoffs, even in today's league. Gotta make stops at some point cause the shot won't always be falling no matter how good you are.

and they look so much better when they are running pick and roll and the ball is moving instead of just settling for 3's. Been to easy to defend them

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.deseret.com/2021/6/17/22...ations-must-go

“When guys get open looks just because they’re a ‘non-shooter,’ we can’t give them easy ones,” Donovan Mitchell said. “We’ve got to get out there and contest and make them see a hand. ... All these shots, we’ve got to make it tougher. If we don’t, we’re going to be at home. We have no choice at this point.”

love it when Mitchell talks about playing D and passing the ball