Jazz in control against Denver
The Salt Lake Tribune
Whew. Everybody expected the Jazz to crush Denver the way they did in Game 3 on Friday — right? — and the final count was a glorious/ pathetic 124-87. The only questions to ask afterward were … 1) What happened to the Nuggets? … and 2) What’s gotten into the Jazz?
The answers were … 1) They stunk and then quit. … and 2) A belly full of fire.
“They’re playing at a different level than us,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. “… These are two games in a row where we’ve gotten our (expletive) kicked.”
He added: “We have to be more mentally tough.”
Truth, truth and more truth. That was just the beginning.
Jamal Murray said: “We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard. … We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and come back ready to play.”
And there was this from Nikola Jokic: “We didn’t know what they were doing.”
Maybe it was the Nuggets who didn’t know what the Nuggets were doing.
As Denver looked dead, for the second time in as many games, coach Quin Snyder wanted everyone to believe the latest iteration of this playoff continuum was like watching “The Empire Strikes Back” or “The Two Towers” or “The Temple of Doom.”
It was, by his evaluation, the middle installment of a movie trilogy, an episode in which nothing was completely at stake or fully determined, revealing only bursts of action and the lean now of momentum — whatever that’s worth — into what’s still bound to be a tough, extended series.
“We have to maintain our focus and intensity,” he said. “We’re playing against a very good team. … You have focus on what’s in front of you. … We have to keep grinding and stay focused.”
Not if the Nuggets don’t get their stuff together.
Snyder has maintained his ongoing theme — “It’s a series … a series” — after a loss and after two blowout wins. That’s what a coach does. But the Jazz found the convincing means by which to keep the former singular and the latter plural, getting a second huge victory in three days.
Maybe the meaning of it all really is inconclusive. But, man, if the Nuggets aren’t done, they looked like it.
It’s worth remembering that Denver came back from a 2-1 deficit last postseason to win a series vs. San Antonio, but they weren’t losing like this and the Spurs weren’t playing like the Jazz are now.
It’s fair to say that Utah’s last eight quarters are the best basketball a Snydercoached Jazz team has ever played, including stretches after which any charitable person would have invoked a mercy rule. The Jazz’s momentum-flow now seems like a flood.
All told, Utah made 51 percent of its shots, 49% from beyond the arc.