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The Utah Jazz defense was bad tonight. The offense was worse. Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio combined for 21 points on 6-18 shooting. Jae Crowder, who we’ve recently praised for his hot shooting, had 5 points and one rebound on a paltry 2 of 12 shooting. Usually, even on bad nights, at least one player has a good game. Not tonight. The starters got boat-raced, the bench got boatraced, and the Jazz left Dallas with their tails between their legs after the Mavs outscored the Jazz by 13 points in the third quarter and a whopping 26 in the fourth. Ouch.
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For the Mavericks’ part, Harrison Barnes, Luka Doncic, and Deandre Jordan had good nights, though it should be noted that Rudy Gobert held DJ to 2 FGs in 22 minutes. Luka Doncic appears to be a special player, Dennis Smith Jr., while not a star, is by no means a bust as some thought he would be. He’s good. That said, Buddy the Elf probably would have looked good against the Jazz tonight.
It’s clear that Quin hasn’t found his rotation yet, which is surprising considering the continuity from last season. Every Jazzman saw minutes, and every Jazzman struggled. To quote a former University of Utah coach, “The ball didn’t go in the hoop.” It’s more than that, though. Sometimes when the ball doesn’t go in the hoop, the Jazz still look like they are executing well but simply missing shots. This rough stretch seems different. During this game, they looked lost and completely defeated, which is unusual for this group with this coach.
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The good news is that we’ve been watching Quin Snyder for years now, and this isn’t the norm. We know what this team is capable of, especially with the leadership of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. For the season to date, this game may very well be rock-bottom. Now the question is whether the Jazz use it to spring back to the surface and get their heads above water or drown in broken expectations, weighed down by a bag of bricks.
The Utah Jazz’ 118-68 loss to the Dallas Mavericks tonight was the second worst in franchise history (regular season or playoffs).
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) November 15, 2018
The worst came on March 14, 1979. That night, the New Orleans Jazz lost by 56 to the Milwaukee Bucks.