The Jazz had a lot going for them and plenty to play for Monday night in Game 4, a contest to all but slam the lid on their first-round playoff series with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They played on their home floor, with the ridiculously energetic backing of a raucous crowd that packed Vivint Arena.
They had encouraging noise that sounded, at key moments, like a squadron of B-52s landing at mid-court.
They had long since undone the damage inflicted upon them in the opener at OKC with strong bounce-back wins in Games 2 and 3.
They had the substantial flow of mighty momentum from those victories.
They had figured out a way to sort of limit the lightning that accompanied the Thunder in the form of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, frustrating especially Westbrook, who started making silly guarantees after Game 3.
They knew how important Game 4 was, Donovan Mitchell beforehand calling it “huge.”
They were confident and connected, having an opportunity to spin the talented-but-disjointed Thunder into a further funk, burdened as OKC was by heavy expectation to make the most of their three-horned All-Star lineup while the valuable individual pieces were still in place.
And they had no such burdens of their own to haul, free to play with the kind of joy Mitchell and Derrick Favors described in days ahead of the game, since already the Jazz season had been something of a success.
All of that was pushed to the middle of the table on Monday in a game that turned out to be the sort of postseason clash that challenged the fiber and fortitude of both teams.
And … the Jazz happily used all the above to their advantage, doing the heaviest lifting themselves, continuing the flow gained a couple days before, beating the Thunder, 113-96.
In doing so, they relied on their now familiar strength-of-the-team-is-the-team mantra, slicing up and sharing winning’s responsibilities pretty much among all their players.
But it was anything but easy, at least not to start. The officiating made it no easier.
It took all of a few minutes to understand that this game was going to be a fistfight.
“Both teams competed,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. ”... Both teams were aggressive. That’s the playoffs. ... Both teams want to win.”
Things got physical right away, when George pushed Joe Ingles in the chest, resulting in a technical foul. Absolutely clear it was that everything was on the line here. Almost everything. And that line was drawn in an ascending direction, straight up and into the mug of each team.
Emotion ruled the day. Snyder picked up a T in the second quarter, when Rudy Gobert was beat up under the basket and … no call. Ingles also picked up a T, as did Gobert and various OKC players. Jawing and woofing and posing and assorted nonsense erupted throughout.
It was serious at times — a brawl nearly broke out with 5:30 remaining in the game, when a cluster of players collided near mid-court, with Jae Crowder getting ejected — and it became downright comical at others.
Call it playoff intensity or playoff clownery. Either way, the better team won.
Whistles — or lack thereof — aside, both George and Westbrook were aggressive, as was promised. They jumped, bumped and thumped their way to scoring 32 and 23 points, respectively.
“You do the best you can with those guys,” Snyder said.
And the Jazz initially struggled to keep up, trailing by six at the end of the first quarter. Often, they either mishandled the ball or bricked it, shooting erratically.
But climb back, the Jazz did. In a big way. They built a 21-point lead in the third quarter, and held on from there.
“We just stayed within ourselves,” Mitchell said. ”... I’m just focused on the task at hand.”
Mitchell was his brilliant self, doing what he’s done for his team all season, and certainly in each of the first three games, stacking higher his point total from 27 to 55 to 77 to 110. Those 33 points were needed and appreciated by his teammates on this occasion.
Gobert (16 points, 10 rebounds) did his thing. Ricky Rubio (13 points, eight assists) did his thing. Favors (13 points) did his thing. Ingles (20 points) did his … and, well, you get the idea.
Aggression ultimately was their friend, the Jazz pouring their opponent into the blender, stopping, at times, to pop from distance and, at others, going straight to the rim.
At the end, basketball’s joy was greatly enhanced by the Jazz’s glad result, bruises and all, the victors knowing full well that their desired achievement in this series is now oh-so-close.
As they walked off the court, the Jazz pumped their fists and allowed a few smiles, ducking down the tunnel toward their locker room, satisfied by what had been so diligently earned, looking forward to the promise of what comes next.
Gordon Monson hosts “The Big Show” weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.
