RealGM

Big game against the defending champs tonight. The game is on ESPN with a late 8pm start. The Mavs took down the red hot Celtics yesterday, so the Jazz need to take down the Bucks tonight to keep the lead on the Mavs.

Expected lineups are in link. Notables as of 9:30am: Gobert and Forrest are listed as grey tossup GTD. Doke is OUT with an injured ankle. No Milwaukee starters are listed OUT. Connaughton is OUT. Lopez and George Hill are returning to action.

https://www.rotowire.com/basketball/nba-lineups.php

This is a difficult one... we use to play well vs them, and they look to be coasting a little bit... but with full team they are really dangerous and if we are without Gobert, this is pretty worrying.

So Bogey, Forrest and Doke are out. Gobert is in. We probably need Conley to break out of his slump to help replace the Bogey points.

Mitchell is the opposite of clutch. On a regular basis.

I didn't watch the game but this is a type of loss I can understand, since the Bucks are a legitimately good team. We're currently tied with Dallas for the 4-5 spots, and have a 2-1 lead in the matchup with one more game remaining between the teams. The Nuggets aren't far behind, only by 1.5 games, which is very commendable considering how injured they've been all season.

Chalk up another loss when the Jazz are up by double digits in the second half. That is at least 12 times this season, WAY too many for a team with Championship aspirations. A few throughout the season, sure, but over 10?! This would be not so much of a let down if all of the others hadn't happened the exact same way, melt down during crunch time. The league knows this is the MO for this team. Just stay relatively close and the Jazz will cave at the end. It took OT tomcat Houston at home and almost happened with Sacramento! (thank you Jordan Clarkson for your 40 spot)

If this team won just half of those 12 games (Most of which were from lottery teams) they would currently have the 2nd best record in the league. As it stands, the good teams are licking their chops to play them and the lottery teams have no fear and can use the Jazz as a way to improve for next year and still remain in the lottery with wins, or at least a close, competitive game.

Lots of rumors flying around about DM going to the Knicks this summer and Quinn being the heir apparent for Pops in SA...Maybe a change is what is needed? Frustrated when they were thought to have so much promise.

I feel like a fully healthy Jazz team would have a decent shot at winning a series with a fully healthy Buck's team.

Crunch 99 wrote:I feel like a fully healthy Jazz team would have a decent shot at winning a series with a fully healthy Buck's team.

Too bad we'll never find out, since that requires the Jazz to make it to the finals...