Los Angeles • Quin Snyder allowed himself to mentally exhale.
Anyone who follows the Utah Jazz knows that happens about once every leap year. But this Jazz team has been through as much as anything Snyder has gone through in his career. They lost five of their top seven scorers from last year’s playoff team, including, ahem, Gordon Hayward. They’ve gone through myriad injuries. They lost 28 of their first 47 games.
That’s why Sunday afternoon, in the bowels of Staples Center, Snyder allowed his team a victory lap. While his players were in the locker room celebrating a 112-97 win that assured the Jazz of a playoff berth, Snyder was telling anyone who would listen how proud he was of the guys who made it happen.
Storylines<br>• Donovan Mitchell becomes the first rookie to lead a playoff team in scoring since Carmelo Anthony in 2003.<br>• The Jazz increase their hold on the fourth spot in the Western Conference.<br>• If the Jazz win their final two games, they will be the No. 3 seed in the West.
In every way, Sunday served as a positive breaking point. The Jazz had been doubted for an entire season. A win over the Lakers, their 28th in 33 games, gave them a chance to serve a bit of crow.
“As far as being nine games below .500, and dealing with a lot of adversity and change. More than anything, I’m just really proud of these guys,” Snyder said. “What these guys did collectively to get better, I don’t want to diminish what this group has accomplished.”
Jazz players made a point to tell the media Sunday didn’t mean much overall. But, they took a moment to enjoy and savor their accomplishment, while acknowledging those who doubted their ability to rebound after Hayward’s departure.
“Shoutout to Everyone that counted us out!!,” Rudy Gobert said in a tweet.
Clearly, the Jazz heard the chatter surrounding their team. They had been politically correct all season, always making sure to say the right thing. They said what they truly felt after Sunday’s win.
“We’re going to enjoy this one, but at the same time we have two good games coming up,” Utah rookie Donovan Mitchell said. “We have Golden State and Portland, so we’re focused and ready for these next two games.”
With Sunday’s win, the Jazz clinched no worse than the No. 7 seed, which eliminates the Houston Rockets — the one team in the league that has handled the Jazz this season — as a possible first-round opponent.
Should the Oklahoma City Thunder lose to the Miami Heat on Monday night, Utah will have a chance to assure itself of at least the No. 4 seed with a win Tuesday night over the Golden State Warriors.
After a loss to the Atlanta Hawks in January, none of this seemed possible. The Jazz were 19-28 on the season and many had left them for dead. A large faction of the fan base wanted Utah to tank for a high lottery pick.
But this team has gone 28-5 since. They’ve been the best defensive team since the Hawks debacle, and they’ve been the second best team in the league in terms of record.
“Making the playoffs, it means a lot to us,” Gobert said. “We always knew we could do it. We went through the offseason and training camp and we worked hard as a team and organization to get to this point. We’re excited, but it’s only the beginning.”
The Jazz beat the Lakers with a businesslike performance of a team that knew what was on the line. Utah never trailed and the only tie was at 0-0. The Jazz began the game on a 14-4 run and saw that lead swell to 22 points at its peak.
For Utah, the job was a bit easier because the Lakers were playing without three starters, including former University of Utah star Kyle Kuzma. But the Jazz also never gave Los Angeles a shred of hope in this one.
“We wanted to be locked in defensively and move the ball offensively,” Gobert said. “We did a really good job of taking care of the ball in the second half.”
Mitchell was sublime, scoring a game-high 28 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds and handed out eight assists, and dominated with 11 of those points in the third quarter. Joe Ingles scored 22 points and handed out 10 assists.
Jae Crowder and Royce O’Neale scored 18 and 15 points, respectively, off the bench. Derrick Favors scored 10 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and had a net rating of plus-30.
The Jazz dominated the second half, blowing the game open for good by the end of the third quarter. And by the end of the game, every bucket brought them a little closer to accomplishing the goal not many thought they could get to.
