Memphis, Tenn. • It’s not clear exactly why the Jazz got out to such an atrocious start against the 5-12 Memphis Grizzlies, losers of their last five games. Maybe they overlooked their opponent. Maybe, after a team Thanksgiving dinner buffet Thursday, they fell victim to tryptophan, and weren’t as alert as they needed to be.
Regardless, whatever it was, the Jazz awoke from their slumber at the halftime break, went on an immediate 18-2 run, and took the game back from the Memphis Grizzlies, 103-94.
That first half showed the worst of what the Jazz had to offer. Mike Conley again hit none of his shots. Donovan Mitchell took bad in-between looks, many of which didn’t have a chance. Rudy Gobert stumbled and fumbled when he was passed the ball. And the defense looked lazy, slow — perhaps even sleepy.
Jazz coach Quin Snyder wasn’t pleased at halftime, but he didn’t scream at his team at the break. His words were short and sweet, Jazz players said.
“We just knew we were better than what we were showing and that we were going to be fine,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t overreact. Some teams would, it would have been easy to. Going 0-2 to start the road trip, gloomy, that kind of feel.”
But whether it was Snyder’s short address or self-recognition among the players, everything changed in the second half. They began to apply immediate ball pressure on the young Grizzlies guards, meaning Memphis had trouble getting into its sets. All of a sudden, the Grizzlies had to deal with the Jazz on the perimeter, then once they did, they faced Gobert in the paint.
Offensively, the Jazz attacked the rim with more force, opening up layups and forcing rotations. Conley and the Jazz found open shooters, and those shooters started to knock those shots down.
That’s especially true for Bojan Bogdanovic, the unquestioned star of the game. He scored 33 points — including 16 in the fourth quarter — to lead the Jazz to the victory. He did it efficiently, too, shooting 12 for 20 from the field and 4 of 8 from the 3-point line. And when the Grizzlies finally sold out to stop him, he found his teammates for two fourth-quarter assists for 3-point shots. In all, Bogdanovic was responsible for 78% of the Jazz’s points in a critical fourth quarter.
“It shows how unselfish we are, especially Donovan. He’s our best player, he’s supposed to take the last shots in the last couple of minutes,” Bogdanovic said. “But at the end of the game, he told me to take the ball, take the last shot. Today, the coaching staff and Donovan and Mike put me in a situation, put the ball in my hands to work. It shows how good they are.”
It was good that Mitchell and Conley put the ball in Bogdanovic’s hands, because both struggled again on Friday night. Mitchell shot 7 of 22 from the field for 20 points, while Conley scored just eight on 3-for-13 shooting in his second trip back to Memphis in two weeks.
“I couldn’t make a shot, so I have to do something,” Conley said while he explained how he set up Bogdanovic.
Joe Ingles, Emmanuel Mudiay and Jeff Green weren’t much better, though, as the three bench players finished a combined 4-for-18 shooting from the field, with negative plus-minuses. Once again, the Jazz’s bench struggled.
For Memphis, Jonas Valanciunas was tremendous throughout the game, pushing the Grizzlies’ lead in the first half and perhaps their only positive force in the second. He finished with 22 points and a remarkable 17 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. Rookie sensation Ja Morant looked a step slow, potentially with less burst than usual due to a lingering injury.
Regardless, it was a needed win for the Jazz, avoiding an 0-3 start to the 5-game trip that could have portended minor doom for the team. After all, the next two games won’t be easy: a trip to Toronto to face the surging Raptors — who stand at 14-4 and with a six-game winning streak — then the 76ers in Philadelphia the next day, who are 13-6 and have won six of their last seven.
Maybe halftime of Friday’s game will prove the trip’s turning point.
“We came out slow, they punched first," Mitchell said. “We punched back.”
