The Utah Jazz team looks like it’s on its last legs, there is a lot of negativity currently surrounding the franchise. With the Dallas Mavericks missing Luka Doncic for the first 3 games of their first-round playoff series, the Jazz was supposed to take over and be in the drivers’ seat. Instead, they have lost 2 games and were booed off the court by their fans at halftime during Game 3.
Tensions are running high and cracks have begun to show within the Jazz roster, with pre-existing rumors of the team not getting along with one another. And an example of that presented itself on the court during the loss to the Mavericks, with Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Danuel House Jr. seen getting into an animated argument during a timeout.
Mitchell and Bogdanovic were the Jazz’s main threats on offense, but the issues came on the other end, with Utah unable to stop the Mavericks from getting open looks and open lanes when it mattered most during the game. The frustration is understandable, a healthy Jazz team should not be down 2-1 to the Mavericks when Luka Doncic hasn’t played even a single minute in the series.
Altercations between teammates, especially when the stakes are this high, are normal. And the series is far from over for the Jazz, they still have the quality to turn it around. Having said that, the energy off the floor has to match the energy on it, and defensive hustle is one of the main things they will have to find to get back into the series.
After the Game 2 loss, Jazz fans will be expecting their team to provide a response in their 2nd home game of the series on Saturday night, and if they cannot muster one despite the fact that the team clearly cares, serious questions about what happens in the offseason will be raised moving forward.
