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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz are taking the glass-half-full approach heading into the playoff opener on Saturday.
The 16 losses in games they led by double digits? Those were learning experiences.
The 4-12 record in January? Better then than now.
Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell's reported beef? Outside noise that's forced the team to talk over things.
As the team prepares for the first-round series, the Jazz believe all the ups and downs of what has been an inconsistent and flawed regular season will be to their benefit come Game 1.
"Last year — it wasn't our fault — but we were just cruising through the season and we're playing really good basketball ... and then when we faced adversity in the playoffs, it was kind of like we weren't really prepared for that," Gobert said. "This year, I feel like we're different. I feel like we are more mature. I'm just excited. I like our chances."
Is that overly optimistic? Perhaps. But Gobert isn't alone in that thinking.
"We're doing a lot of good things and it's getting overshadowed by some of the situations we've been in and losses that we've occurred," Mike Conley said.
Those "situations" Conley is referring to are the much talked about issues of closing out games. In the last two weeks of the season, Utah blew late double-digit leads to the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns.
The sunny-side approach: Utah played good enough against three playoff teams to get big leads. Playoff games, though, are still 48 minutes and not Utah's apparently preferred 36 minutes.
Following the blown lead against the Clippers, Jazz coach Quin Snyder said the good thing about it was that "it's not Game 6," referring to Utah's collapse in last year's playoffs. That, in a way, is where Gobert and the team's view of the postseason comes from ahead of Game 1.
Gobert's not wrong when he said the Jazz didn't face a lot of adversity last season. They had three winning streaks of nine or more games, set offensive records and had a net rating that rivaled some of the better teams in NBA history. It wasn't necessarily a battle-tested group when the playoffs rolled around. This year, they say things are different.
"We've been through a lot this year on a lot of levels," Snyder said. "And I think it's seasoned us in some ways. It doesn't seem like it's been three years — maybe three calendar years — but one season. I think our team has grown a lot."
As he chronicled the growth process, Snyder hearkened back to a slogan used three years ago and said the Jazz need to emulate that again to find their greatest success in the postseason.
"We talked about, it feels like a decade ago, that the strength of the team is the team," Snyder said. "When we embrace that, that's when we're at our best — on both ends of the floor. So I think we've got a group that's got some very talented players, but ultimately our strength is that the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. And that's how we've got to play."
It's a lesson he's hoping the Jazz took from in all the ups and downs of the season. Utah said the roller coaster season was a learning experience; on Saturday, viewers will begin to see how much was learned.
"I think all those challenges that we face really made us better and prepared us better for what's coming next week," Gobert said. "So I'm just grateful and excited to have that opportunity, and we're going to be ready."
