Bench play, particularly from Crowder, was lackluster
Before I tee this one off, let me just say that Jonas Jerebko had a wonderful game and was easily the most impactful player off the bench. However, beyond him, Utah’s reserves were less than impressive.
Dante Exum had a few nice moments, including a last second layup to close out the first quarter, but two points on 1-of-3 shooting left something to be desired. Royce O’Neale was torched in Game 1 by Paul George and was given less opportunity to cover him this time around. Even so, he had a second straight underwhelming performance as he added just two points on 1-of-3 shooting as well, while also finishing the night at a minus-11, the second worst mark of the night.
Who had the worst mark, you ask? None other than fellow reserve Jae Crowder, who was the biggest detriment of any of Utah’s bench players.
Jae Crowder reflects on his shooting in Game 1 and talks about the bench’s role in a playoff series. pic.twitter.com/e5zpvXJlkD
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) April 18, 2018
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a fan of Crowder since he was acquired in the deadline-day trade, but he has not looked sharp in these playoffs so far. Between horrible shot selection that saw him go 0-of-3 (all missed threes) on Wednesday to bad decisions on defense that helped OKC capitalize on easy opportunities, he was not effective whatsoever. And the proof is in the pudding – as I mentioned before, he had a team-low plus/minus of minus-14.
Again, Utah was able to overcome this, so it doesn’t feel quite as bad, but if the Jazz would have lost, you can bet that Crowder would have been one of the primary scapegoats. He had turned into a reliable sixth man during the regular season as Utah’s leading scorer off the bench at 11.8 points per game. Particularly when facing off against OKC’s middling second unit, the Jazz need Crowder to step up and give them an edge, not make life harder for them as he did on Wednesday.