9. Gordon Hayward’s career high in playoffs
When the Utah Jazz made it to the playoffs in 2017, it was a big deal. It was their first time back in the playoffs since Dennis Lindsey had started “not skipping steps”, and this playoff run was different from the wanna-be one led by Al Jefferson and Devin Harris in 2011.
The Jazz were a legit 50-win team, and if not for injuries decimating Derrick Favors and George Hill, an advanced metric called “man-games lost” estimates they could have been a 60-win team at full strength.
Gordon Hayward had blossomed into an All-Star, Rudy Gobert was right there behind him, and Quin Snyder had proven to be one of the most valuable head coaches in the association. The Utah Jazz were only getting started as Hayward was only 27 years old, and they anticipated growth from Dante Exum, Rodney Hood, and Trey Lyles in the future.
It was tempting to put Joe Johnson‘s game-winning shot from this series as the golden moment in this slideshow, but game three was too good to leave out.
In Game Three against the Los Angeles Clippers, homegrown star Gordon Hayward erupted for a career-high 40 points. Although it came in a loss, it was a reminder that even here in Utah we can grow and develop our own stars to compete with the rest of the NBA.
The Los Angeles Clippers thought they had us beat on star-power alone, being led by Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. It was a valiant effort of Hayward to keep the Jazz close in that game, as they had to play Boris Diaw for extended minutes in the place of the injured Rudy Gobert.
Utah would eventually get Gobert back in the action and take the series in seven games. The Clippers would go on to lose Chris Paul that the following summer.