Thursday night officially marks the end of the Utah Jazz’s playoff push.
The Utah Jazz entered Thursday night in their game vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder in essentially what was a “win-or-go-home” scenario. While the Jazz still needed a few things to go their way in order to make the play-in, last night was a crucial one for Will Hardy and the squad.
Instead, things did not go the Jazz’s way. An abysmal second half effectively led to the Jazz’s play-in dreams coming to an end. While the two games before this contest were either decided by 1 point or went to overtime, this game was not that.
But, despite the collapse, there were still some great performances for Utah in this game.
There was one player that might’ve ended up having one of the best of his career, and that’s Kris Dunn. The former lottery pick played one of the best games in his entire career. Dunn, in 34 minutes, put up 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists, while also shooting an absurd 90% from the field.
If there was one thing that was made clear tonight, it’s that Kris Dunn was deserving of his multi-year extension with the Jazz.
Kris Dunn makes his own path💯 #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/eiSyso6HJh
— TheColdWire.com (@thecoldwire) April 7, 2023
In his first start with the Jazz, Dunn showed out, and so did Kelly Olynyk, once again.
After Olynyk’s previous game vs. the Lakers, he replicated yet another great performance, putting up a near triple-double with 16 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 rebounds. In Olynyk’s advanced role since Markkanen and Kessler’s absence, he’s shown that he’s deserving of a roster spot once again next season.
However, despite these two stellar performances, the team still couldn’t find a way to overcome some hurdles. One of which was Ochai Agbaji’s shooting struggles tonight, shooting an overall 6-18 from the field, along with an ugly 0-8 from deep.
Another issue for the Jazz was the overall collapse in the 2nd half. After Utah went on a 10-0 run to end the first half, the team proceeded to follow up with a pretty poor second half.
The Thunder outscored the Jazz 59-46 in the second half on the backs of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Aaron Wiggins, combining for 26 in the third and fourth. The Jazz had doubled the Thunder in turnovers (5 to 10), as well as lost the battle on the glass. Utah also shooting a combined 2-14 from deep also didn’t help.
While Utah made a good push and stayed competitive in the first half, in the end, the Thunder outlasted the Jazz, 114-98. OKC will continue to keep their play-in hopes alive, as they’ll continue to battle Dallas for the last play-in spot to close out the regular season.
As for the Jazz, the team meets their preseason expectations by missing the postseason. Utah’s playoff streak of six years will now come to an end, now becoming mathematically eliminated from getting the 10-seed.
Even though the Jazz ended up losing their spot in the playoffs, there are still a ton of bright spots to look at. The Jazz still fought hard until the end of the season. With a preseason win projection total of 23.5, the Jazz absolutely exceeded many’s expectations, now with 36 and counting.
It’s becoming clear that this roster is closer to becoming a contending team than we all thought in October. Utah now will look to enter the offseason with a ton of flexibility for Danny Ainge and the front office.