Why the Utah Jazz season ended prematurely: Their advantage was taken away due to injuries
For the entire season, the Jazz had arguably the best backcourt in basketball, with Donovan Mitchell (26.1 PPG, 43% 3FG) and Mike Conley (16.6 PPG, 6.9 APG, 44% 3FG) leading the way. Between those two players, Utah had 48 minutes of elite all-star level guard play, scoring, and playmaking. These two guys knocked down shots, drove and broke the paint, would torch teams in the pick n roll – they could do it all.
Mitchell showed his greatness in the first two games of the series, where he was easily the best player on the floor. He outplayed both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, he broke the paint and scored around the basket with ease, he knocked down threes from everywhere, he was unstoppable. However, once Mitchell hurt his ankle from a George foul at the end of Game 2 then reinjured that ankle in Game 3, the series changed.
Mitchell just was not himself after that. Sure – he was still scoring at a high level, but he no longer had the explosiveness to break the paint, break the Clippers’ double team and attack the rim with his same vigor.
What really hurt Utah was the absence of Conley. The All-Star point guard missed Games 1 through 5, played on one leg in Game 6, and likely was going to miss Game 7 if there was one. Conley hurt his hamstring at the end of the Grizzlies series and couldn’t be on the floor when the Jazz needed him the most.
Utah managed to win the first two games of the series frankly because Mitchell was amazing, but once the Clippers figured out how to guard Mitchell, not having Conley to create and score made it really tough for the Jazz. Utah had to rely on their other offensive threats who naturally can’t create their own offense as well.
It wasn’t like the Clippers were playing with a full deck either – they were without Serge Ibaka, then Kawhi Leonard in Game 5 and Game 6 – but Utah not having their All-Star backcourt to lean on took a huge toll on the team as the series went on.