Utah Jazz season comes to an end after Game 5 rally falls short
By Ryan Aston
The Utah Jazz brought the fight to the Houston Rockets for a third straight contest, but ultimately lost both Game 5 and their first-round series.
A lot can happen in a seven-game series in the NBA Playoffs. However, there are certain truths that usually perpetuate themselves regardless of the teams involved. On Wednesday night, three in particular were staring the Utah Jazz in their collective faces:
- It’s a make or miss league.
- The squad with the best overall player usually wins the series
- Teams don’t come back from 3-0 series deficits.
For the third straight contest, the Jazz gave James Harden and the Houston Rockets the business in a big, bad way in their first-round playoff series. In the end, though, the Rockets survived Utah’s fourth-quarter rally to take Game 5 and, in turn, the series with a 100-93 win at the Toyota Center.
The Jazz played solid ball defensively and Harden struggled once again, hitting just 10-of-26 shots. Unfortunately, the Jazz were sub-40 percent from the floor and missed 29 of their 38 3-point attempts.
As has been the case for most of the series, Mitchell failed to make the kind of impact the Jazzland masses have become accustomed to seeing from him. After his incredible 19-point fourth quarter in Game 4, the Jazz’s go-to guy had a 4-of-22 shooting night in Game 5.
He also turned the ball over five times, including a crucial giveaway in the game’s waning moments.
That said, it wasn’t all bad for the Jazz band. Royce O’Neale scored a team-high 18 points, knocking down two triples and grabbing five boards along the way. He also played a key role in keeping Harden in check once again.
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Meanwhile, Ricky Rubio put up a 17-11-3 line, although he air-balled an open 3-point attempt that would have given the Jazz the lead with just over a minute to play after they had trailed by double digits.
Jae Crowder put up 15 and 10 and hit three threes as well.
After really lackluster efforts in Games 1 and 2, you can’t knock the Jazz for what they did in Games 3,4 and 5; they played incredibly hard and had a chance to win all three of those contests, which is what you want in a playoff setting.
Nevertheless, the Jazz’s offensive woes and second consecutive 4-1 series loss to the Rockets both show that an influx of talent is essential for the club to truly compete with teams like Houston and the Golden State Warriors in the Wild West. As constituted, the roster is simply too flawed to be considered elite.
During the post-game presser, Mitchell praised his squad’s efforts, saying the Jazz “got some dogs on the team.” He’s not wrong — and those are the guys we can’t help but root for — but, at a certain point, talent wins out.
To say the least, it’s going to be an interesting offseason for Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey.