The Utah Jazz are currently in a dire situation as the team seems unable to hold on to leads going into the playoffs. They have lost 6 of their last 7 games and seem to be unraveling at the most crucial part of the season when they need momentum. A large reason for this is the fact that they continue to crumble in the 4th quarter, blowing massive leads, something they managed to do in their latest loss against the Golden State Warriors as well.
Utah led by as many as 16 points with 7 minutes left to go in the game and could have simply seen it out. Instead, they allowed the Warriors to make a run powered by Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson and ended up losing the game 111-107. They had a 99.4% win probability that the team somehow managed to blow.
As pointed out by NitroXYZ, an NBA fan on Reddit, this is the 4th time that the Jazz have blown a game where they had over a 97% chance of winning in the 4th quarter, which also includes their recent collapse against the Los Angeles Clippers. They have lost with a win probability of over 86% on 9 occasions as well.
This is a terrible stat for a roster that has been together as long as this team has. Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the key pieces of this Utah squad, have failed to come up big in the clutch when they have needed to this season, something that has already frustrated Mitchell. They had similar issues in the playoffs last season against the Clippers, and the fact that they have only gotten worse is alarming.
They are now a full 2 games behind the Dallas Mavericks who are the 4th seed, with just 4 games left in the season. The players are good enough to build these massive leads during games, so it is up to them and the coaching staff to figure out a way they can maintain that and finish teams off. Otherwise, a first-round exit might just be on the cards.
