HOUSTON — The Utah Jazz held shootaround Tuesday morning in preparation for their Game 5 matchup against the Houston Rockets at 6 p.m. MT.

Approaching an elimination game

It doesn't take a basketball Ph.D to notice the 3-1 deficit the Jazz are facing. If they lose Tuesday, their season is done.

"There's always an urgency when your season could end. There are so many philosophical ways to deal with that," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. "It's one game, our backs are against the wall, it's Game 7. All that stuff says the same thing. We've got a team that wants to keep playing."

"I love basketball," Donovan Mitchell said. "I don't want to be at home watching the next round."

The Jazz don't feel like they've yet given the Rockets their best shot. While the team is much more proud of the defensive effort it gave in Game 4 when compared to Game 3, there are still many things they feel they can improve on that end of the floor, especially from the bench.

"We've been in certain situations where we aren't expected to win," Mitchell said. "We'll use that to our advantage."

Rubio, Exum out

Both Ricky Rubio and Dante Exum have been ruled out of Game 5 with hamstring strains. Rubio's injury has been a longer-term issue but was finally aggravated in Game 6 of the Oklahoma City series. Exum hurt his in the third quarter of Game 4 on Sunday, but remarkably, he got up off the floor and took a 3-point attempt before exiting the game.

"That's pretty good in my mind, that you keep playing, keep battling," Snyder said.

Exum's issue is day-to-day, so it doesn't look like it will hugely impact his offseason.

Derrick Favors left Game 3 due to an ankle sprain but said he's back to full strength by now. "I fought through the pain last game," Favors said. "This morning, it felt better."

Mitchell explains Harden comments

After Game 4, Mitchell was caught on camera as he walked to the locker room with an expletive-laden tirade that can be roughly paraphrased as "If that’s what (James Harden) needs to win the MVP, so be it." Clearly, Mitchell was frustrated after fouling out of the game on what he considered to be some bad calls, along with not getting some whistles himself.

"Obviously, he's the MVP. There's no doubt about that. I'm pretty sure that we've all said things that in the heat of the moment, you get upset," Mitchell explained. "It's more so about myself. You try so hard to fight back, and we did. I'm definitely upset that it came out that way. But you can't do anything about it; I understand that.

"There are cameras everywhere, and I'm getting used to that," he added. "Like I said, he is the MVP and rightfully so. I'm really focused on just going out here and seeing what we can do for Game 5, and not really the calls. That's not who I am."

Making the right read against tough opposition

One good thing about this series, win or lose, is that it's a chance for Utah's young players to play elite talent in a playoff situation. The idea is that they can take the experience of these games and use that to improve within the series and even moving forward into the offseason.

"James Harden makes you get better," Snyder pointed out. "The way that he's able to read the game, playing against a player like that helps you get better defensively because you start to understand all of the adjustments in his mind that he makes."

Mitchell is watching the film and already making improvements. After scoring only 10 points in Game 3, he scored 25 in Game 4.

"Unfortunately, sometimes I do. In Game 3, I watched it two, three times, just to remind myself of what I shouldn't be doing," Mitchell said. "Just understanding how they're playing you, where the shots are coming from, where the passes are coming from. I've gotten better, but not to where I want to be."

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