Utah Jazz stars air frustration with state of team

There’s no polite way to say this: the Utah Jazz are in rough shape right now.

They’ve lost five games in a row. That’s particularly worrying down the home stretch in a season where they expected to contend for the NBA championship.

It sounds like both Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are acutely aware of the issue.

Utah Jazz stars express anger

“I don’t know what to say,” an aggravated Mitchell told The Athletic’s Tony Jones.

“This is the same s***. This is literally the same thing as last year”.

Mitchell was referring to the Jazz’s inability to close out a playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers last season. More specifically, he was referring to their inability to maintain a 25-point lead in the deciding game.

It seems as if Mitchell is tired of dominating only to come up short.

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert echoes sentiments

Mitchell wasn’t the only one with grievances to air after last night’s loss. His star teammate didn’t feel that the Utah Jazz played with enough purpose.

“We don’t get our hands dirty. We never get our hands dirty” said the Stifle Tower.

Leaving aside the abundance of microphone touching jokes that are now at our disposal, he’s got a point.

Utah Jazz dropped the ball at the deadline

The Utah Jazz really, really needed that 3 and D wing.

They needed another player willing to “get his hands dirty”. As constructed, the Jazz feature a multitude of talented offensive players, but they’re lacking in grit. Outside of Gobert and Royce O’Neale, they’re woefully short on players who make a defensive impact.

Those can be the sorts of players that hold onto a 25-point lead.

Utah Jazz discord becoming more evident

Typically, when your two best players are both found venting to reporters after a game, it’s a signal that your team has some trouble.

Rumors have swirled around this team all year. Donovan Mitchell may want a bigger market. Quin Snyder may want a new roster. Mitchell and Gobert may hate each other.

A deep postseason run could make all these problems go away.

Then again, so could a short one.

A short playoff run could find the Utah Jazz starting from scratch. With all the talent they’ve accumulated on this roster, that would be the most frustrating thing of all.