The Dribble: Grades of Game Five

/ sgodfrey630

ICYMI: Look at the keys to game four here and keys to the series here. Hindsight is fun. 

You know it’s been a good night of Utah Jazz basketball when a (fake) Donald Trump tweet pops up.

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And boy, wasn’t it a good night? The Jazz took the court in LA late Tuesday night, and escaped with another gritty win, 96-92. Game five implications are huge as the winner (when the series is tied 2-2) goes on to win the series 85% of the time. It was a fun, nerve-wracking game (what else should we expect?) so let’s give out some grades.

The Gif-Ability of Steve Ballmer: A+ with High Honors

Steve Ballmer is the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. He is known to be animated, passionate.  Most of the time, he’s pretty happy too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But then Joe Johnson did some Joe Johnson things and that smile quickly turned upside down and turned into a nice, big frown.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsSome potential taglines include:

  • Steve Ballmer looks like a psycho killer from a horror movie.
  • Steve Ballmer looks like he should replace IT on his T-Shirt with Joe Johnson (IT takes everything).
  • Steve Ballmer just got friend-zoned.
  • Steve Ballmer looks like he just ate a ‘sandwich’ from a ‘place’.

Thanks for the memories. Steve. Keep it up.

Three Point Barrage:  F? A? Shoot down the middle for a C+?

The Jazz are either going to live by the three or die by it. It nearly cost them game five. In the first half:

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Ingles finished 0/4 (shooting performance: F), Hill 1/7 (shooting performance: F), Johnson 2/5 (shooting performance: C because he made the big one), and Hood 4/10 (shooting performance: B because he made big ones too). We kept getting open looks, we kept shooting, and we kept missing. Until, that is, only a few minutes were left in the game. Naturally, at the point when the tension and stakes were highest, buckets. After a huge offensive rebound, with three minutes left, Hayward kicks out to Joe Johnson who fired up a three instead of resetting. Splash. It gave the Jazz a 83-78 lead. On the next possession, Iso-Joe goes to work and then finds a Rodney Hood open, who dials it up and buries it. 86-79 lead. Those two shots were huge and deserve an A. 

The Jazz finished the game at 36% from downtown, a dip below their 40% postseason average and 37% regular season average (under-performed expectations so that’s gotta be a C-, right?). They took 36 (!) and made 13. You had to hope the shots were going to start falling, but you also started cringing whenever we put it up. And when they kept shooting, you had to be thinking: STOP SHOOTING THREES THAT AREN’T GOING IN AND YOU ARE FAILING AT EVERYTHING!  That is, of course, until the last few minutes when it all goes down and you started thinking: OK I WAS SO WRONG YOU ARE AWESOME AND I LOVE YOU LONG LIVE THE THREE! They made ’em when they needed ’em, which is why they get a favorable grade from me.

Clutch Lake City: A

As a basketball fan, you had to love that fourth quarter. As a Clippers fan, you had to love that fourth quarter. And as a Jazz fan, you absolutely had to love that fourth quarter. It was fun, back and forth basketball with a lot of big moments and big plays. The defense held its own to give the Jazz a comfortable pace, and consequently the lead, for most of the game. However, the Clippers just hung around. For most of the game the Jazz couldn’t close the door and put them away. And then the Jazz had their annual Let’s-Not-Make-Anything-And-Waste-The-Shot-Clock-And-Take-Bad-Shots-And-Just-Look-Pretty-Much-Awful, but this time it was in the third quarter and not the fourth (which gives them a D instead of an F for this stretch). That was real considerate of them because that way, in the fourth quarter, we actually got to watch good basketball.

With two minutes left in the game, the Jazz were in for another classic. Gordon Hayward (27 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals for a really solid A game) made four straight free throws to give the Jazz a five point cushion. Chris Paul, however, was doing all he could do to keep the Clippers in it.

And listen, he drives me nuts. He whines too much. Has all these non-basketball antics throughout a game. Is never called for a foul and when he is, is shocked because he has never done anything wrong in his entire life ever. The double technical on Hayward and Paul was a joke. Paul landed on Hayward, they wrestled, and once they got up, Paul decided to shove Hayward in the back as he was walking away. It’s annoying the way he plays and flails and cries and blah blah blah. With that said, Chris Paul is really good at basketball (finished with 28 points and 9 assists for a really solid A game too). He made some big shots to get the Clippers in it, and then he made some even bigger shots so the Clippers actually had a chance. After the game the TNT crew argued that Chris Paul has been the second-best player in the playoffs, only behind LeBron James

They forgot someone.

Joe freaking Johnson. After Paul cut it to a 90-87 lead for the Jazz, Joe takes the possession for the Jazz. He jab steps once, fades back off one leg, and lifts from 13 feet. Bucket.

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The Clippers play the foul game, Chris Paul makes another big basket, but George Hill (12 points, 7 assists but shot 3/12 for a C- game grade) calmly nails four straight free throws to ice the game. All told Hayward, Johnson (14 points, 8 rebounds, 6/14 shooting for a nice B+ game), and Hill did what needed to be done to win that game. It wasn’t over until the final buzzer sounded, but the trio made it so the Jazz could come to Salt Lake with a 3-2 lead.

My Love For This Team

Which leads me to my last point: I love this team.

It’s hard to remember that these are the first big moments for Rudy Gobert (solid in 36 minutes, 11 points, 11 boards for a nice B+ game), Gordon Hayward, Joe Ingles (ZERO points; just focus on the intangibles, just focus on the intangibles; C grade), Rodney Hood, and even Quin Snyder. I have been impressed, time and time again, that these guys are not afraid of the moment. Joe Johnson has led the resurgence, but Rodney Hood has ice-in-his-veins and keeps hitting timely shots. When the Clippers make runs, the Jazz don’t wilt. On the rare occasions that the Staples Centers gets loud, the Jazz are not fazed. I am amazed at how cool and composed they play, even when things get stagnant, don’t go their way, or bad breaks occur.

If you remember, the Jazz went on a nice run to open up a double digit lead in the fourth quarter. We then put JJ Reddick on the line twice (for five free throws) and Chris Paul nailed two threes. Just like that, lead gone, tie ball game. After the game Snyder was asked how his team responded. He said teams make runs and they all knew the Clippers would keep fighting. But then Snyder said, “but we got guys who like playing basketball” and we responded too.  I think Snyder has done an awesome job as coach this series. Through five games, the score between the two teams is tied at 495. There are a lot of even, individual battles going on. But the Jazz feel like the better team, and look like the better team more often, because the one category the Jazz are schooling the Clippers in is coaching. Snyder is working circles around Doc Rivers, a former Coach of the Year and NBA Champion.

All together, this is a deep, talented team.  They play together and you can see that they believe in each other.  It is so fun to watch this team compete, never give in, and finish it off all under the helm of Quin.

Let’s go close it on Friday, right Steve?

With such a team effort, it’s hard to identify the hero of the game. Comment below with your Game MVP and why.

(Thanks for visiting The Tortured Fan! If you like what you’re reading, follow me on Twitter @JazzJunkie12 or go like The Tortured Fan Facebook page. Go Jazz!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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