NBA Playoffs 2019: Utah Jazz aim for Game 2 reboot; preview and comment thread

Following a disastrous Game 1, the Utah Jazz look to right the ship in their first-round series with the Houston Rockets before heading back to Salt Lake City.

The Utah Jazz tipped off their run in the 2019 NBA Playoffs about as badly as one could possibly on Sunday. James Harden and the Houston Rockets dismantled the navy, green and gold crew on both ends of the floor to secure a 122-90 Game 1 win — the second-worst loss in Jazz playoff history.

That performance doesn’t say much about the Jazz’s chances of competing with the Rockets in a best-of-seven series. Still — and if you’ve been following The J-Notes recently, this take is nothing new to you — it feels as though there should be ample opportunity for improvement in Game 2.

I’m not necessarily saying we’ll be headed back to Salt Lake City with the series nodded at a game apiece, but I don’t think we’ll see another 30-plus point blowout, either.

In Game 1, the Jazz managed to misfire on nearly two-thirds of their open jump shots from 10-plus feet away from the hoop. Worse yet, they made just 52.9 percent of their shots in the restricted area, where they hit on over 65 percent during the regular season.

That’s points off the board for the Jazz, and it wasn’t all a result of the Rockets’ D.

On the other end, Utah allowed the Association’s 30th-ranked team in paint scoring to best their own efforts down low by 20 points. People want to blame Rudy Gobert for the big discrepancy, but it was much more the failure of the team as a whole to execute the defensive game plan that allowed it to happen.

The Jazz attempted to funnel Harden into specific spots on the floor to limit his production, as well as his ability to find teammates and, ultimately, accomplished neither. Harden scored 29 in the game, dished out 10 assists and Houston knocked down 15 3-pointers, many of which were of the open variety and off of Harden’s finds.

In Game 2, I expect much of this to be curtailed.

The Jazz are far from the league’s best open shooting team, but I expect they’ll do a better job of capitalizing during the second go-round. I also expect they’ll win the battle in the paint with better finishing and a better-executed ushering of Harden to his right or to the middle, along with crisp rotations and timely help D.

Harden will still do his thing, but look for the Jazz to mitigate some of the damage done from the periphery.

Whether that will be enough to steal a win remains to be seen; it’s still a tough ask for this Jazz squad. The X-factor may be Donovan Mitchell‘s ability to get hot and counteract Harden with his own offensive firepower. However, he had a rough series against Houston last postseason and  shot just 40 percent from the floor and 26 percent from deep against the Rockets this past year.

An explosion may or may not be in the cards for he and the Jazz. If it’s not, though, there are definitely other ways the Jazz can help themselves. Getting Joe Ingles and Kyle Korver more than four combined field goal attempts will help. It would also be nice if Jae Crowder didn’t take nine shots and miss eight of them.

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Taking better care of the basketball would help, too, although the Jazz struggled in this department vs. Houston throughout the season. But something’s got to give there, right? I know that sounds more like a plea than analysis but, at a certain point, something is actually going to go right for the Jazz.

The law of averages is a law for a reason.

I don’t know if that will equate to a W, but stranger things have happened in the Association. Just ask the Golden State Warriors, who were up 94-63 on the LA Clippers on Tuesday, yet ended up losing the game.

After an embarrassing effort in the series opener, head coach Quin Snyder and his team are going to reboot this thing. As a result, the worst-case scenario should be that the Jazz look a little better in defeat. But who knows, maybe they’ll just surprise us — I just wouldn’t bet on it at this point in time.

PREDICTION: Houston Rockets 112, Utah Jazz 104.

Tip-off for Game 2 on Wednesday will be at 7:30 PM MT. The game will air on TNT once again; whether you’re tuning in or not, I would strongly suggest checking in with the game discussion in our live comment thread below.