Oklahoma City
Thanks to Derrick Favors’ performance, Wednesday’s Game 2 of the Jazz’s series with Oklahoma City will evoke comparisons to their Game 7 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers last April.
The contrasts made this road breakthrough even more impressive, in its own way: Jazz 102, Thunder 95.
In Los Angeles last April, the Jazz surged ahead in the third quarter and withstood the Clippers’ mild rally. The latest win required more toughness and determination, after everything fell apart for them during OKC’s 19-0 run in the third period.
Imagine the Jazz’s winning a road playoff game while going nearly six minutes without scoring.
“As much as anything,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said, “I think our team stayed together.”
And the Thunder crumbled. The Jazz’s defense had a lot to do with an OKC collapse that will be remembered for the way Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony went a combined 0 for 14 from the field in the fourth quarter.
That helps explain how the Jazz recovered after being 10 points down late in the third period and closed out a win that evened the series, although there’s much more to tell.
In his understated way, Favors labeled it “a good team effort.” That’s accurate. This victory required some of the best stuff from a bunch of Jazzmen.
“They all need each other,” Snyder said, “and they all know that.”
Favors was imposing, posting career playoff highs of 20 points and 16 rebounds and making it difficult to picture this team without him as he enters free agency this summer. Favors also was instrumental in the Jazz’s last playoff victory in Los Angeles, where he covered for a foul-plagued Rudy Gobert with 17 points and 11 rebounds. This effort was even better. “Just trying to find ways to be aggressive, make an impact,” Favors said.
“Just relentless” was Snyder’s description of Favors, and that was especially true when he ripped away a rebound that led to Donovan Mitchell’s drive for bucket that gave the Jazz a six-point lead late in the game.
Ricky Rubio also delivered his best postseason performance, immediately after his worst showing. That’s inarguable, considering this is his first opportunity in the NBA playoffs. Rubio made five 3-pointers and finished with 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
Gobert added 13 points and 15 rebounds, making 7 of his last 8 free throws after being 2 of 10 in this series to that point.
And Mitchell’s 28-point game will have a place in Jazz playoff lore, after he was questionable with a toe injury. Mitchell finished 0 for 7 from 3-point range, but think about this: The rookie outscored the Westbrook-George-Anthony trio 13-2 in the fourth quarter.
So this looks like a long series in the making, with Game 3 booked Saturday at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
During the 72 hours between Oklahoma City’s Game 1 victory and the tipoff of Game 2, a few issues questions issues were debated and wondered about. Could George replicate his 8-of-11 shooting from 3-point range? Would Rubio improve on his 5-of-18 overall shooting? How would the injury affect Mitchell? Would the home team ever win consecutive games, as never happened in the Jazz-Clippers series?
The answers: No way. Yes. Not much. Not yet.
George’s 3-point accuracy remained ridiculous in the first half, when he twice was fouled on successful 3-pointers. He turned one of them into a 4-point play, meaning he was averaging more than 3.0 points on his first three 3-point attempts. But George made only 1 of his last 9 attempts from 3-point range, and Anthony missed twice in the last minute, with the Thunder down by four.
In each case, Gobert rebounded the ball. His team completed a bounce-back effort.
