Utah Jazz: 2 studs and 1 dud from heartbreaking loss to Grizzlies

Utah Jazz stud: Bojan Bogdanovic

If any member of the Utah Jazz lost focus for even a second last night, rest assured, it was not Bojan Bogdanovic.

The Croatian sharpshooter hit a three-pointer with 2:03 on the clock to give the Jazz a 115-112 lead. Fans in the Vivint Arena could be forgiven for hoping that Bogey had just iced the game vs a much less experienced Memphis Grizzlies team. Of course, they were wrong, but they can’t blame Bogdanovic.

Nobody should have been surprised to see Bogdanovic knock down that clutch three: he could hardly miss throughout this entire contest. Overall, he finished this game with 24 points while shooting a hyper-efficient 8/14 from the field and 7/11 from three-point range. Bogdanovic’s three-point cannon was fully loaded in this contest: in the rare occasion that he wasn’t launching a triple, he was pump faking to lose an antsy defender and find an open midrange jumper.

All told, Bogdanovic hasn’t exactly been consistent this season, but he’s officially posted enough scorchers to conclude that he’s having another strong year. He’s now shooting 39.8% on 6.1 three-point attempts per contest. His 17.0 points per contest are exactly the same as last season’s.

Bogdanovic and his propensity for selecting quality three-point attempts are tailor made for Quin Snyder’s system. Even though the Jazzmen lost this game, their fans should be encouraged by Bogey’s consistency. Any night where he hits 7 of his 11 three-point attempts is more-likely-than-not to result in a Utah Jazz victory.

The chips simply didn’t fall that way last night.