Things didn’t go very well for the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
Utah fell 102-77 to the Dallas Mavericks and are now trailing the Mavs by one game.
That means that they could be eliminated in the next game – and that’s very likely if they keep playing as they did on Monday.
Donovan Mitchell's plus-minus of -38 Monday night is tied for the worst by any Jazz player in a playoff game since plus-minus was first tracked in 1996-97.
Al Jefferson went -38 in Game 2 of the 2012 Western Conf 1st Round vs the Spurs. pic.twitter.com/OAbjDWVW82
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 26, 2022
Of most concern for the Jazz is Donovan Mitchell, who had an undeniably bad game on Monday.
He was held to just 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Additionally, his plus-minus of -38 is tied for the worst by any Jazz player in a playoff game since the plus-minus stat was first tracked in 1996.
That’s not a good look for Mitchell – and very bad news for the Jazz.
Time To Turn It Around
If the Jazz want to make this a seven-game series, they will need to right the wrongs ASAP.
Simply put, they can’t have another game with Mitchell only putting up 9 points.
To be clear: Mitchell wasn’t the only one lacking on Monday.
Bojan Bogdanovic only had 2 points, Mike Conley only had 4.
Rudy Gobert had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds but that wasn’t nearly enough for the team.
Jordan Clarkson was the team’s biggest star with 20 points but the rest of the squad will need to step up to combat Luka Doncic and the Mavericks in the next game.
Utah will need to play like their season depends on it because it literally does.
If Mitchell doesn’t get it together and the Jazz are pushed out of the playoffs, it will be a sad end to a troubled season.
The team hasn’t been functioning as it should be and there has been talk of major changes coming in the offseason.
If they are overcome by the Mavericks in the first round, you can expect those changes very soon.
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