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SALT LAKE CITY — Trying to define or describe it is a difficult task, but something isn't quite right with the Utah Jazz this season.
The maddening inconsistency is reflected in the team's record, which has fallen well below expectations. Real numbers, not using obscure statistics to push some agenda, prove the point.
The Jazz squandered double-digit leads in 11 losses so far this season. The most recent came Friday in San Antonio against the Spurs, who entered the game with a record of 25-41 in 11th place and below the qualifying position to make the play-in game under the second-year NBA postseason format.
At some point, somebody has got to demand it stop before time runs out. If it doesn't change, the Jazz are facing another early and disappointing exit from the playoffs.
"If you want to say anything and put it anywhere and blame anybody, go ahead and blame me," guard Donovan Mitchell said after the game.
You got it.
The loss is the latest in a pattern in which the Jazz blow a double-digit lead in the second half. They were up by at least 10 points in the second half nine times in the second half and three times in the fourth quarter.
"Just too many," analyst Thurl Bailey said before Saturday's game against the Sacramento Kings. "You can understand one or two. It happens in this league."
Obviously, the Jazz are good enough to open comfortable leads, proving talent is there and not the primary issue. But they repeatedly let teams off the hook.
At this point in the season, the recurring problem is getting old and gnawing on the increasingly frustrated fan base. Puzzling, indeed.
Given the bunched-up standings in the Western Conference, the loss to San Antonio is particularly disheartening. The Jazz are locked in a battle for homecourt advantage in the first round, barely ahead of the Dallas Mavericks.
"I put this one on me," Mitchell said after the Spurs loss. "I just gotta be better as a leader for the group. I don't really place any blame anywhere else. As the leader of this team, I shouldn't have let this happen."
Exactly.
This is Mitchell's team, without question, and its fortunes going into the playoffs rest on him. The time has come for the team's leading scorer to assert his will in all aspects.
Two seasons ago, after the Jazz wasted a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, Mitchell emphatically stated he was done losing in the first round. Now he's got to take it up another level.
"It's tough," Mitchell said. "It hurts. It sucks. This ain't fun, I'll tell you right now, it's not. I want to say it's growing pains; I know to say it's part of that. We'll be better because of this, but this can't continue to happen."
Only 25 years old, Mitchell possesses maturity well beyond his stature and experience in the league. Despite being several years younger than the likes of teammates Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley, Mitchell needs to go beyond saying the right things after the game.
For the three-time All-Star, it's about holding himself and his teammates accountable. No reason not to double down on his first-round exit comment of two years ago by saying the Jazz are done losing big leads in the regular-season and series leads in the playoffs.
Last season, after finishing with the best record in the regular season, the Jazz took the first two games against the Los Angeles Clippers in the playoffs only to lose the next four games. The last two playoff losses have left this team with much to prove.
"It's getting late in the season and we've got to figure this out," Mitchell said. "Otherwise, we'll be in the same position we were last year."
