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DALLAS — Nearly two weeks ago, Snyder gave a spirited argument to reporters about how his team's struggles in closing games weren't as bad as advertised.
That was what the Jazz were saying in public. In private? Well, they knew better. The same questions that were being frustratedly asked among the fan base were being addressed in the locker room.
How could they lose when they were up by 25 in the third quarter against a team that ended their season a year ago? How could a 16-point lead with six minutes left in the game against the Golden State Warriors not result in a victory? How did their final true tuneup for the playoffs end in losing a 17-point lead to the Phoenix Suns?
Donovan Mitchell issued a plea to the fans to "hang with us" after that final collapse; Saturday's Game 1 win should help restore hope.
The Jazz were in the same situation they had been time and time before; this time, though, they broke through. Utah hung on at the end, which has provided some added confidence as the team heads into Game 2 on Monday (6:30 p.m. MDT, NBATV/AT&T SportsNet) at America Airlines Center in Dallas.
"It was massive," Mike Conley said. "Especially the way that last month of the season kind of was in regard to fourth quarters and the stigma that we can't finish games."
That stigma wasn't just an over-blown narrative; it was steadily becoming an identity.
So over the last two weeks, the Jazz players entrusted to close out games — Mitchell, Conley, Rudy Gobert, Bojan Bogdanovic and either Royce O'Neale or Danuel House Jr. — spent hours attempting to perfect a handful of sets that could be used in the game's final minutes. The hope was those plays and actions would serve as the cure to Utah's kryptonite.
For Conley, all that attention to detail paid off on Saturday.
"The difference in last night and other games was an understanding of what we're doing," Conley said. "... Not just having (the ball) in one guy's hands, everybody's touching it, everybody's making plays."
During the regular season, 43% of Utah's possessions in the clutch (defined as a game within 5 points in the final five minutes) ended with Mitchell taking a shot. That was the second-highest percentage in the league behind only Kevin Durant.
Mitchell's percentage was just above other lead guards like Steph Curry, Damian Lillard and Ja Morant. That's not surprising; teams generally want their best offensive weapon to have the ball late. The problem was Mitchell only shot 33% in those situations. In short, the Jazz needed a more efficient way to close games.
They got that in Game 1.
After the Mavericks cut Utah's lead to 5 points with 4:58 remaining, the Jazz had eight more shot attempts — only two were by Mitchell. The team shared the load, and the Jazz were finally able to hold off a late rally.
"That allows us to continue to be who we are —continue to move the ball, continue to play without just having isos and taking the tough shots and make the game tougher on us," Conley said. "So just make the game easy."
Conley went 2 for 2 in the closing stretch with both shots coming after the Mavericks had trimmed the lead to 2. Mitchell found him cutting to the basket for a quick floater out of a timeout, and then he hit a 20-foot jumper with 2:27 lef to make it a two-possession game.
"I had a couple of opportunities earlier in the fourth to take that same shot, I passed it up and tried to move it around," Conley said. "I told myself next time that shot comes up, I'm shooting that. ... We don't shoot a lot of them, but it's the playoffs, you shoot whatever is available."
Bogdanovic hit a key step-back jumper and Mitchell handed out two assists, including the one to O'Neale, which was essentially the game-winning shot.
"We just have a bunch of different options," Bogdanovic said.
And in the opening game of the playoffs, they used all of them.
"It was just a cool way to win a game that we have historically in the last month haven't been able to do," Conley said.
Did the Jazz solve all their closing troubles? Maybe not, but Game 1 was a much-needed confidence boost for a team that has undoubtedly felt the weight of the uneven trend. Saturday lightened the load and provided a template to use in the future.
"We got to put our ego to the side and trust each other, especially in these moments in the playoffs," Bogdanovic said. "We are here because we are good team and we got quality, so I think that we really have a great group of guys as well that they are not looking for their individual stats."
