Round 1, Game 7: Utah Jazz @ Denver Nuggets

[Catchall]

I don’t believe Mitchell and Gobert are 100% cool with each other. One of the biggest things I think I have learned is that as good as Rudy is, he gets marginalized in the playoffs. He played better that 2nd half of game 7 but overall I was disappointed. I was probably most disappointed in Ingles. He didn’t shoot the ball very well and just really seemed to lack energy. He wasn’t sneaky Joe Ingles. He was just the Joe ingles you would expect. I was fine with Royce O’Neal, I thought he played hard on D and was given the toughest assignments a lot of times, he obviously struggled shooting as well. Clarkson I think gave what you’d hope he could give, more at the beginning of the series than the end but overall I was happy with him. As far as Conley goes I will admit that I was more optimistic than I should’ve been. It’s pretty painful to think of the assists we gave up for him. Sometimes no moves is better than some moves, but I don’t think most fans would agree with that lol. I don’t know that I thought he would be all-star level, but I really expected a lot more than what we saw this season...I can’t even begin to think where the Jazz go from here.

Anyways as always I appreciated everyone’s comments this season! It was one for the books and definitely a unique season!

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Rudy played well in the series. He has a lot of trade value, if that's a direction the Jazz want to explore. You can't ask him to be more than he is -- 18/17/2b while helping hold the Nuggets to 80 points is eye-opening.

What the Jazz need is a dynamic, two-way wing who can score at three levels. Joe and Royce are 3D guys and glue guys. History has shown that an elite guard can't single-handedly carry a team's offense. Donovan needs someone on the wing he can work with and play off of.

I understand why the Jazz traded for Conley. He was the best player they thought was available to them. He's just a bit of an awkward fit. I've come back to this before, but signing Ed Davis and Jeff Green was worthless. However, money is limited once you take on Conley.

Tony Bradley and Emanuel Mudiay were unplayable in the end. Georges Niang only played 7 minutes. The Jazz went with a super short rotation and looked worn out in the 4th quarter after their big comeback.

Jazz will probably re-sign Clarkson because they can. They'll draft someone with starter potential -- Maledon, Bolmaro, Green, Terry, Hughes, etc. They'll sign someone with length using the MLE. They'll get Bogdanovic back. I think they're likely to keep Conley, unless they can flip him for Otto Porter. There aren't many trades for Conley that will bring back a better contributor.

The Jazz need one more impact player from somewhere.

[jozef]

The Jazz drawing up a play for Mitchell to drive from the backcourt into 4 Nuggets players was a bit of a headscratcher.

That's it.

As a Jazz fan since Hornacek seasons, I have hard time to accept post-Sloan Jazz playbook.
The franchise with trademark offscreen game plan (UCLA cut, small-on-big) lost its identity and operates with high picknroll or weave offense exclusively. Even side picknroll is a rare commodity. This era starts to get boring with all these stars occupying the ball at mid perimeter forcing teammates to camp around. Harden, Doncic, Mitchell, LeBron, Giannis, Westbrook, Lillard etc.
The very few (Steph, Klay) can play off the ball, very few (Kawhi) can be effective in small spots anywhere on the court.

With all that scoring outputs from Mitchell and Murray, the really entertaining player in this series was just Nikola Jokic with his passing and creative inside game. That was basketball.
Donovan Mitchell still has no idea how to play off the ball and it does affect the veteran players the wrong way cause it clashes with their expertise in more complicated offense. However it's upon a coach's decision.

A decade ago Mike D'Antoni have brought a fresh air into the league, right now it gets annoying.

[NuggetsWY]

I'm still very impressed with the Utah Jazz and consider them the best TEAM as a collective group. It's the system Snyder has them playing on both ends. I love the game and this from a guy that may live in Wyoming but I get every Jazz game on my satellite system. They are my #2 team and I love watching them.

Mitchell reminds me of Michael Jordan in ways most people never notice. In the 3rd quarter of this game, after a made basket, he knocked the ball out of Jokic's hands and did it so casually and subtly that the ref standing right there and looking at them, didn't even seem to notice. He is a competitor like very few ever reach.

Gobert is, as everyone knows, quite impressive too and I was glad to see Conley having an impact.

I like the Jazz forwards, but if you can get one upgrade at forward, this is a team that can scare others - they just proved that in my opinion.

[PharmD]

Provocative question from an outsider: Did Rudy Gobert unquit on the team down the stretch? He was amazing and looked like a completely different guy the last 20 minutes of the game. The first half he was in pure Pout mode.

[vryadli]

That is most weak-spirited Jazz with worst defense I saw in my 20 years in USA. Ity is especially tough for out-of-area fans, who rooted for because of spirit and overachieving. And now it basically, is not Utah Jazz anymore... Still Utah, of course, but not Jazz.

[Catchall]

Provocative question from an outsider: Did Rudy Gobert unquit on the team down the stretch? He was amazing and looked like a completely different guy the last 20 minutes of the game. The first half he was in pure Pout mode.

Rudy is a bit mercurial. The Jazz really came out uninspired to start the game. Donovan woke everyone up with his competitiveness later on, including Rudy, but my guess is that there were guys on this team who were tired of being cooped up inside the bubble and wanted to go home. The team's ceiling without Bogdanovic this year was probably the 2nd round, so why be there.

[Inigo Montoya]

I enjoyed the series but there is no denying that blowing a 3-1 lead is an epic choke-job. We have the dubious honor the be only the 12th team in history that managed to lose after building this kind of lead. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter because this team is not better than the teams we had in previous seasons. It is still a first\second round exit team, depending on the matchup.

As for this game, I think almost everybody didn't manage to make a basket, so I can't single out Conley in that respect--it was prevalent on almost all players on both teams. My criticism and disappointment of him is more general, he just wasn't good this season, and even once he started putting together good individual games, he just didn't have the needed impact on this team to make it better than it was in previous seasons. Can't fault him for missing that last shot either, it was a tough situation and it sill almost went in.