Inconsistent Jazz About to be Sent Packing in Game 6

The Jazz have their back against the wall.

A great philosopher once said that life is like a box of chocolates and you never know what you’re going to get.

Okay, it was just Forrest Gump in some made-for-movie magic. But it brings to mind this year’s version of the Utah Jazz.

Unpredictable. Frustrating. And occasionally delicious if you catch them on the right night.

With that, the culmination of the 2021-22 season leads up to this: a looming battle vs. the resurgent Dallas Mavericks Thursday night at Vivint Arena.

Trailing 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, the Jazz face certain elimination unless they can squeak out one more victory against Luka Doncic and the Mavs. Hope is not springing eternal in Salt Lake City after the listless Jazz were waxed Monday night in Dallas, 102-77, in a game that didn’t even feel that close.

Luka looked like a fresh version of himself after returning from a calf injury in Game 4, slicing and dicing the Jazz for 33 points and 13 rebounds to dominate the pivotal Game 5. Every loose ball, 50-50 play and thus, the series momentum quickly swung the Mavericks' way.

“I don’t want to go home,” Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell said during media availability Wednesday, 48 hours after one of his most disappointing playoff games of his career where he scored just nine points and miss all seven of his 3-point attempts. “Knowing the character in the locker room, and all we can do is compete with all we got. We are going to go out there and fight.”

Mitchell’s status was up in the air after he left Game 5 early, but said he was “good to go” Wednesday after the prognosis came back that it was a bruise and not something more serious with his quadricep.

For Jazz fans, it seems like a bad dream to think of bowing out to an up-and-down Mavericks team this early in the playoffs is even a possibility — much like biting into that ill-desired chocolate from the box Mr. Gump talked about.

Last year, the Jazz had the best record in the league and had everyone speaking of a first-ever franchise championship. The result, instead, was a blown 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals to the Los Angeles Clippers and a long offseason.

The talk then was that Utah pushed its players a bit too hard during the regular season, ran out of gas when it counted most, and some injuries surfaced.

Fast-forward to the 2021-22 campaign, where regular-season wins were sacrificed at times with “DNP” becoming part of the acumen to ensure everyone was healthy. Locker room drama also bubbled up once again, with Mitchell reportedly butting heads with all-star center Rudy Gobert. With that, advanced statistics seemed to show Mitchell rarely looked for Gobert in the post, giving talking heads in TV/radioland even more ammunition that the duo was destined for a breakup come this offseason.

Still, Utah boasted of some “secret weapons” as the playoffs began, even with the team ending the season by blowing big leads late in games and ending an East-coast road swing with a less-than-championship-caliber 2-5 record.

Alas, the only secret weapon being displayed so far in their playoff series has been the Mavs offense — particularly guard Jalen Brunson. The feisty guard has embarrassed the Jazz, netting 119 points while only turning the ball over twice in the last four games.

That’s something that hasn’t happened in NBA postseason play since 1978. Secret weapon, indeed.

With superstar Doncic out the first three games, the Jazz had a huge opportunity to take control of the series after a Game 1 victory in Dallas to reclaim home-court advantage. Things looked bright.

But instead, Utah watched a guy named Maxi Kleber, who couldn’t hit the broad-side of a barn in the regular season, go 8-for-11 from downtown as the Mavs hit a postseason-best 22 shots from deep against a Jazz defense that looked lost and unmotivated. Kleber didn’t suddenly gain a jumper, he just didn’t miss wide-open looks given to him by a disenfranchised Jazz defense.

Game 3 in Utah was much of the same, as the Mavs ran the same play over and over with Brunson and Kleber in crunch time to take back home-court advantage. Game 4 saw Doncic return, which seemed to benefit the Jazz a bit as he was the only one who could stop the Brunson/Kleber show by taking the ball back.

Buoyed by Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic’s spirited full-court defense, Doncic looked somewhat average until he knocked down a late three to put the Mavericks up four with 37 seconds left to play.

That’s when all hope was suddenly restored in Salt Lake City. Mitchell put back his own miss and got fouled for a 3-point play, and after a couple missed Mavs free throws, Mitchell found — who else? — but Gobert for an alley-oop dunk to give the Jazz an improbable Game 4 win to knot the series at 2-2.

The win and goodwill between Gobert and Mitchell suddenly had hopes sky-high in Salt Lake City.

“We’ll be ready” for Game 5, guard Jordan Clackson said.

Ummmmm…

The dreaded box-of-chocolate unpredictability returned, however, as Clarkson and the Jazz shot just 3-for-30 from downtown — a franchise playoff low — as the Mavs coasted to an easy win, leading up to Thursday night and Game 6 anxiety for Jazz faithful.

Will the Jazz extend their season one more game or go running ala Forrest Gump, and enter an offseason with a fresh set of franchise-changing possibilities and questions?

Like that famous box of chocolates, you just never know what you’re going to get.