Luka, Gobert, and off-court tension: 5 things to watch as the Jazz open up playoffs

SALT LAKE CITY — On the surface, the Utah Jazz don't look like a team on the cusp of change.

Rudy Gobert is signed through the 2025-26 season and Donovan Mitchell has a player option for that same year. Mike Conley has two more seasons left on his deal, as does Royce O'Neale. Bojan Bogdanovic, Rudy Gay and Jordan Clarkson all have at least one more year left on their contracts.

The only Jazz players expected to have major roles in the playoffs that are definitely in the final year of their contracts are Danuel House Jr. and Hassan Whiteside.

Yet, despite that, Utah enters the postseason with the NBA world's collective finger on the detonator. If the playoffs end in more disappointment, it's hard to imagine the same core coming back next season. But the Jazz say they aren't feeling the weight of the apparent do-or-get-blown-up postseason.

"The way things are positioned now, where we've got to win this or win that in order to have success, that external narrative is one we can't control; and I don't think our guys really buy into it," Quin Snyder said.

Added Bogdanovic: "I don't feel any pressure. We've been in this situation many times and we've got a lot of experienced players and veterans on this team. We've all been in a lot of playoff series, so, honestly, I don't feel any pressure."

So little pressure, in fact, that they are happily taking on the role of the underdog. As much as they have tried to "block out the noise," they know the narratives surrounding the team. Hardly anyone outside the Jazz locker room is giving the team even a puncher's chance of making a deep playoff run — something the team is embracing.

"Sometimes I like being the challenger," Gobert said. "I like when people count us out."

So Utah will begin its playoff run with a national perception that it will likely be the team's last together; and at the same time, full of confidence that it can finally break through the woes of the season.

Here are five things to watch for when Utah begins its series with Dallas Saturday.

The Luka Doncic situation

The Mavericks officially listed Doncic as doubtful for Game 1; owever, multiple reports have come out that the superstar will not play in the series opener and his status for Game 2 is also very much in question.

Doncic is one of the best players on the planet. He's the engine for the entire Dallas offense and someone who can get a good shot at any time.

If there's any good news for Dallas, it's that the players who will take up most of the responsibility with Doncic out — Spencer Dinwiddie and Jalen Brunson — have both had big games against Utah this season. And, interestingly enough, Dallas lineups without Doncic have +4.3 net rating so Dallas isn't necessarily toast without him.

"When you look at if we had to play without Luka, Spencer being able to come in and fill that role, we're not asking him to be Luka," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. "We're asking him to be himself and feel confident if he has to start; that's what we'll do."

Mitchell made it clear the game plans weren't too different regardless of whether Doncic plays or not. And for the Mavericks to win, it'll still the same formula: Dorian Finley-Smith locks up Mitchell and the Mavericks spread the floor enough to get Gobert away from the basket.

Dallas has the personnel to win without Doncic — it'll just be a lot tougher.

How versatile are the Jazz?

At this point, everyone — coaches, players and fans — knows the book on the Jazz. Teams that switch everything on defense and spread Utah out on offense tend to have pretty good success.

Dallas, so happens, to have the personnel to do just that. The Mavericks outscored opponents by nearly 9 points per 100 possessions without a traditional center this season. Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber and Davis Bertans could all see time playing the role of a small-ball center, which would force Gobert out to the perimeter.

Utah was awful when it went small this year with either Gay or Eric Paschall at center, so that's probably not the counter. In the end, Utah will need Conley, Mitchell, Clarkson, O'Neale and House to be strong on the perimeter so Gobert isn't needed in two places at once the entire series.

If Utah isn't strong on the perimeter, it could be a repeat of last year's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Gobert on offense

Another way to deter the small lineup is Gobert scoring in the post. Gobert is one of the best roll men in the league, and lobs to him usually result in good things — be it a dunk or free throws. But throwing the ball to him in the post? Well, it depends.

Gobert is 39 of 62 after taking one or two dribbles. If he has a defender sealed or needs to be make a simple move, that's a good play for the Jazz. If he has to dribble three or more times, things get a bit more dicey. So can he actually "punish" small lineups? The Jazz appears at least somewhat confident in that prospect.

"It's a weapon we have to use," Mitchell said of Gobert in the post. "Sometimes it's the pass, sometimes it's manipulating the pass to the corner. … It's up to Rudy and Hassan to go out there and make the play."

Mitchell said that can be mean scoring, passing out of a double team, or forcing a ref to make a call.

"We've been working on it," Mitchell said. "I think we trust it and we've got to go out there and execute it."

Can the Jazz close games?

By now, you know the Jazz have struggled to close out games, despite Snyder's world-class spin zone attemptt.

In the last weeks of the season, the Jazz blew big second-half leads in losses to the Clippers, Golden State Warriors and PhoenixSuns. Mitchell said one of the best things about the week-long break before the playoffs was it gave Utah a chance to really push the reset button on the up-and-down season.

"It's behind us, it's a new season, you can't take anything that happened with us," Mitchell said. "The biggest thing is just to reset."

That sounds good, but if the Jazz fall into the same habits that caused them to falter late, they'll just be empty words.

In most comebacks the formula was the same: Utah slowed the offense down and were over reliant on Mitchell to make a bad shot down the stretch. If the Jazz, once again, resort to similar tactics, the fourth-quarter issues will likely follow them into the playoffs, as well. If the Jazz can avoid iso-heavy sets, then the "reset" will have meant something.

Getting past the pointed comments

Along with the on-court issues, the Jazz have had plenty of off-court drama in the regular season. From pointed comments about defense to subtweets to reports of a less-than-happy relationship between Mitchell and Gobert, it's been a less than harmonious season.

Conley, though, had an interesting perspective on the whole situation and said it might have just made the team closer in the end. Or if nothing else, it got the team to clear the air on some things they needed to work on.

"A lot of things you look at it like, 'That's not true,' and then you have to go and talk to that person and you have to have a conversation," Conley said. 'Is this what you feel like?' 'No, I don't feel that' or 'I do' or whatever. And if it's true, then you actually get to talk about it instead of it being hidden and withheld and just going about your business and then affecting play on the court."

Conley said it forced the Jazz to have conversations about how things are going on the court — from spacing issues to late-game situations to everything else — and he thinks that's prepared the Jazz for the playoffs in a way they may not have been otherwise.

"We had to figure it out; no running from it," Conley said.

On Saturday, we'll see just how much has been figured out.

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