Utah Jazz vs. Milwaukee Bucks game recap: Jazz crumble down the stretch…..again

The Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks went back and forth Monday night in the struggle for a win. The Jazz were defeated this time despite a slump busting game from Mike Conley and some Donovan Mitchell scoring heroics in the second half. It was a disappointing loss from the standpoint that the Jazz looked at times like they were going to run away with it during the second half but could not get stops in key moments.

The Bucks have now won 7 of 8 and are right on the heels of the Miami Heat for the number one seed in the east. This game was fairly top heavy in terms of production for the Bucks as their big three of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kris Middleton and Jrue Holiday lead the team with 82 of their 117 total points. The key to the game for the Bucks was to keep the game close for 43 minutes and then take advantage of the Jazz’s inability to close out a game.

Photo by Jeff Swinger/NBAE via Getty Images

Credit to Utah for keeping themselves in the game and not letting the Bucks blow them out, but you have got to find a way to win games like this. It may not mean much in the grand scheme of the season but this is a chance to make a statement and there is no urgency with this team to win games. This team was 8th in clutch minutes last year and 2nd the year before that so there is no reason why they can’t be that good again this year with largely the same team. You almost get the feeling that this team is just going through the motions this regular season and they are waiting until the playoffs to “flip the switch” but they could at least try to get some wins so that they don’t have to start the playoffs on the road. There were some bright spots in this game such as Mike Conley scoring 29 points and playing better than he has in a while. Donovan Mitchell also had 29 points and Rudy Gobert snagged 14 rebounds to go along with his 18 points.

The Bucks will move on to face the Kings in Sacramento on Wednesday. The Utah Jazz will be back in action on Wednesday at home vs the Chicago Bulls.