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SALT LAKE CITY — Donovan Mitchell slammed both hands hard into the scorer’s table as “Let’s go Suns!” chants began through Vivint Arena.
Any good vibes the Utah Jazz had created over the past four days were completely erased in Friday’s final home game of the regular season.
It happened again.
Utah had a 17-point lead as the game entered the fourth quarter; they lost 111-105.
If Friday’s game against the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns was viewed as a playoff opener — as the team said — then you might as well expect the same thing that’s happened all season to follow the Jazz into the postseason .
The Suns outplayed the Jazz 36-13 in the final 12 minutes, charging back in a now-all-too-predictable fashion. The Jazz were 3 of 20 from the field in the fourth quarter, including 1 of 9 from the deep; The Suns were 14 of 21 with nine assists.
It was the 16th time this season the Jazz lost a game after leading by double digits and the sixth time it happened in the fourth quarter; Three of those games have come against Western Conference playoff teams in the past two weeks.
“Obviously we’ve done some really good things – not a few, but a lot – to put us in a position that we’re in,” said coach Quin Snyder. “And from that point on, when we got into crunch time, we didn’t do that anymore.”
In the end, it was the same thing that repeated itself over and over again this season: the Jazz stopped moving the ball and then couldn’t stop as the offense stalled. A 17-point lead was soon gone.
“I don’t think there’s anything like a voodoo hex going around,” Snyder said. “Maybe there’s a little fear when these things happen.”
Rudy Gobert added: “I think we’re reconsidering in the fourth, in crunch time. When we’re 17 and they sneak up on… and tie the game, it feels like….” Gobert faded and never finished his thought.
Mitchell was 0 for 6 in the fourth quarter, and Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic were combined 1 of 4 from the field. Everything before that became irrelevant as soon as the last buzzer sounded.
Yes, the Jazz went head-to-head with the best team in the league—until the Suns did what they’d been doing all season: up their game when it mattered. Jazz didn’t—couldn’t? – tighten.
Phoenix didn’t have to win the game; The Suns had the best record in the league a long time ago. It was like Phoenix adding to Utah’s misery just for fun.
So what needs to change?
Mitchell thinks it’s pretty simple.
“I have to take a shot in the fourth,” Mitchell said. “I haven’t been good in the fourth all year. My team needs me to be that guy. I have to face the situation.”
That’s a bit contradictory to the “ball movement” and “keep playing” solutions shared by Snyder and Gobert – which frankly could be part of the problem – but Mitchell is probably a little right.
Since the All-Star break, Mitchell is shooting 30.2% from the field on 96 shot attempts and 20% on 40 shot attempts from deep in the fourth quarter. If he can return to the Supernova version he’s shown in the last two playoffs, Utah’s finishing problems will likely go away.
“It’s my job to hit hard shots and I didn’t do it,” Mitchell said. “… What you all find difficult is the same reps I’ve been repeating all summer. So I’m working on getting those shots in those moments, so now I just have to go out and meet them. There is no other formula for it.”
And recalling his past successes, he made one last request to jazz fans: “I know it sucks. Fans hold on. I promise we’ll be alright.”
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Ryan Miller has covered the Utah Jazz for KSL.com since 2018.