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SALT LAKE CITY — Damian Lillard had five guys around him. Three of them were in Utah Jazz jerseys, two of them in his Portland Trail Blazers colors. There was no space, no place to go — so of course, he rose up above it all and buried a 3-pointer.
That was the kind of fourth-quarter Lillard had; that he and CJ McCollum had; that the Trail Blazers had as they cut what was a 23-point Utah lead to just 1 point on Thursday at Vivint Arena.
At least, it was until Rudy Gobert stepped up at the end.
With 20 seconds left and the Jazz (19-12) clinging to a 3-point lead, Portland's Carmelo Anthony tried to drive on Gobert — that failed. He then backed up and tried to take a game-tying 3 over the long center — that failed, too. Anthony’s shot was deflected into the hands of Bojan Bogdanovic.
Then, with under 10 seconds remaining, Lillard drove inside for a reverse layup but was swatted away by Gobert. That equaled game over as the Jazz held on for a 121-115 win over the Blazers.
Mitchell led the Jazz with 35 points on 12-of-19 shooting; Joe Ingles had 26 points and hit 6-of-10 from behind the arc, and Gobert finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
But it was the defense down the stretch that saved the Jazz on Thursday.
“I mean, just had to get some stops,” Gobert said. “We let them back in the game in the fourth quarter and they got going. Those two guys, when they get going they're not easy to stop, and we knew that we were going to need those key stops to win the game.”
Those two guys: Lillard and McCollum.
McCollum scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and Lillard made back-to-back 3s that he really had no business making, and suddenly a huge Jazz lead was hanging on a thread.
But they couldn’t complete the comeback, and that was because of Gobert.
Before the game, Lillard called Hassan Whiteside “the best defensive center, shot-blocking center, in the league."
Gobert had a response to that in the game, getting the key swat of Lillard in the closing seconds. And then he had one after it, too
“Should have told his coach to put him in at the end,” Gobert said in reference to Whiteside practically being played off the court at the end.
Following the final whistle, Mitchell came up and shoved Gobert in an emotional celebration. It was a good end to a game that the Jazz mostly dominated.
Fueled by a masterful first quarter (14 points on 4-of-4 3-point shooting) from Ingles, Utah had built up a 23-point lead by the third quarter and then took a 20-point advantage into the fourth.
For 36 minutes, the Jazz had severely outplayed the Blazers in all facets of the game. They had kept Lillard and McCollum mostly in check, and even the Jazz bench, aided by the debut of Jordan Clarkson, wasn’t coughing up leads.
At least, it didn’t until the fourth quarter.
Portland opened up the fourth quarter on a 26-7 run to get within 1 point with 4:39 remaining. With the Blazers’ stars heating up and the Jazz suddenly faltering, it looked like Utah was in for an embarrassing loss in front of a national television audience.
But even with the Blazers' star duo going supernova, the Jazz found a way to win.
“They got two really, really good players,” Ingles said. “... It's tough to keep guys like that for 48 minutes quiet.”
Ingles mentioned the 3s by Lillard and simply shrugged. When a defender is on his hip, the big is right there ready to contest, the lane is blocked off, and he is facing traffic via his own teammates. “There's nothing you can do,” Ingles said. “Either foul him or let him shoot.”
For the Jazz, the story wasn’t the comeback, though. It was how they played to get the lead, and it was about how they responded. Ingles steadied the tide with a floater and Mitchell drove in for a slick layup that had him nearly in the crowd celebrating. Bogdanovic buried a corner 3 and then Mitchell hit another triple.
In closing time against one of the best scoring duos in the league, playing at an elite level, the Jazz had the offensive firepower to keep them at bay. That meant something.
Ingles set the tone early with his aggressive shooting and Mitchell was the offensive star in the second half, scoring 28 of his 35 points after halftime.
“My teammates trust me to make plays down the stretch,” Mitchell said. “I’m just going in there, just trying to do my thing and finding guys. Bojan found me. Rudy did his thing on both ends, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year — about to be three.”
After Thursday’s finish, even Lillard might have a hard time arguing with that.
