Five important figures from five straight Utah Jazz losses

The Utah Jazz are in the midst of their longest losing streak since 2016. The team is in a downswing just days before the All-Star break, and the Jazz are hoping to regain their winning ways again soon.

Late Wednesday night, the Utah Jazz lost their fifth game in a row, falling to an undermanned Denver Nuggets team.

Simply put, the Jazz are slumping. To highlight some of the more important takeaways from the recent losses, here are five numbers from the last five games.

25.0 – Joe Ingles’ three-point percentage

For the 2019-2020 season, Joe Ingles is shooting 40.6 percent from three-point range. However, over the last five games, that number has dropped to 25 percent. He’s averaging just four attempts from three a game, making only one.

Not only is 25 percent significantly lower than his season average, but while Mike Conley was missing 19 of 20 games due to injury earlier this year, Ingles shot a very impressive 51.2 percent from deep.

With Conley coming back post-injury, the Jazz knew he was going to take shots from other players. However, I’m guessing they didn’t know his shots would essentially erase Ingles’. For the Jazz to be successful, Joe Ingles needs to be shooting and making three-pointers.

116.7 – Team Defensive Rating

Utah’s defensive rating over the last five games is 116.7, bad enough for eighth-worst in the league during that stretch. For the season, the Jazz are eighth-best at 107.2. Their perimeter defense has been a major sign of concern, as they’ve allowed teams to shoot and make more shots from 10 to 19 feet from the basket than usual.

The math is simple — the more shots a team takes, the more chance they’ll have to score. The Jazz need to lock down their defensive play.

49.0 – Bojan Bogdanovic’s three-point percentage

One player whose offensive play has stayed stellar throughout the season, no matter the situation, is Bojan Bogdanovic. Any Jazz fan knows that Bogdanovic’s scoring ability is special.

During this five-loss stretch, his deep-ball accuracy has kept the Jazz competitive and in-reach of victory during each contest. Bogdanovic averaged 10.2 three-point attempts during the five loses, making five–which is good for 49 percent.

Clearly, it’s not because of Bogey’s offense the Jazz haven’t been winning.

16.3 – Mike Conley’s points per game

Mike Conley is currently playing his best offense of the season. Over the last five games, he missed the first Denver loss, but he started every other game and averaged 16.3 points on 12.5 attempts.

His reintroduction as a starter has allowed Conley to be at his best offensively, as he’s a scorer by trade and that’s what he’s doing right now. Let’s just see if Conley can be himself and the Jazz can win the game at the same time.

29.7 – Donovan Mitchell’s three-point percentage

Donovan Mitchell has been in a funk. In the five straight losses, he only shot 42.2 percent from the field and an underwhelming 29.7 percent from distance. Against Denver in Denver, Mitchell made just one shot from the floor.

He missed each of his six three-point shot attempts that night, and has missed 26 of his last 37 tries from deep. The first-time All-Star is bound to bounce back.

The Utah Jazz aren’t going to keep losing. All playoff hope isn’t lost. However, the Jazz aren’t themselves right now and they need do something about it. Keep an eye out for a rejuvenated Jazz team as they head into the All-Star break.