The Downbeat #2079: The Excitement that is Our Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night and I am still excited. Its one of the those wins that makes it so I cannot think about anything else. How impressive is it that the Jazz won game 5 on the road?

The last time the Jazz won a game 5 on the road?

• 1997 the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals to send the series back to Utah. Even then we won that game we were still down 2-3. We lost the series in 6.

When else have the Jazz won game 5’s on the road?

• 1995-1996 the Jazz beat the Seattle Supersonics in Key Arena 98-95 but lost the series 4-3.
• 1984-1985 the Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 104-97. We owned the Rockets even back then haha. The Jazz won the series 3-2 (as the lower seed) in a best of 5 series.

I think its about time that the Jazz win a game 5 on the road and also win the series. I believe we will. I have all confidence that we will win on Friday. From the beginning I have believed the Jazz in 6, it will happen.

This past summer was a big one for the Jazz. At the time I remember being so shocked by the Joe Johnson signing. Shocked. Jazz never get players like Joe. I think I was more excited about him then the trade for George Hill. I was excited for all three of our new players but something was just so intriguing about that Joe Johnson signing.

Some tweets from August:

James Herbert from CBS sports wrote an in-depth article about what George Hill, Boris Diaw, and Joe Johnson bring to the Jazz.

What he had to say about Joe:

And then there was Johnson. On Tuesday Snyder recalled meeting with him in free agency and selling him on taking on a different kind of role. He had played a bit of power forward with the Miami Heat last season, and Utah wanted him to sort of do a lot more of it. Johnson knew his minutes would decline significantly, and he also knew he could help the Jazz handle high-pressure situations.

"He knew that we had wings and understood that his role would be -- I think he'd started every game since like 2003, I think that's right," Snyder said correctly. "That's a long run, and we talked about it. I was like, 'Are you sure?'"

Johnson was indeed sure, and judging by the opportunity he has had in the playoffs, he couldn't have made a better decision. All season, Utah's younger players have raved about the wisdom that Hill, Diaw and Johnson have brought brought to the locker room. This is certainly a part of how they've stayed steady and managed to persevere over a Clippers team that has been here before.

Go read the rest its great.

The value of true professionals. Not vetzz but vets.

Game 6 will be the hardest game of the season. Kurt Kragthorpe describes it as a game 7 disguised as a game 6.

By winning Game 5 on the road in a best-of-seven series that stood 2-2, these guys already have done something that the Jazz of John Stockton/Karl Malone and Deron Williams/Carlos Boozer never did in other eras. The challenge now is following through at home.

This will be another big checkpoint for Johnson's younger teammates — basically a Game 7 that's disguised as a Game 6. This series has been crazy enough that the Jazz could win Game 7 on the road, if necessary. In that scenario, the road team already would have won four games in the series.

But who really would like the Jazz's chances in Game 7? That's why Johnson said of Friday's contest, "This has to be our Game 7."

What about the Clippers:

From the Clippers' perspective, it is simple: "We've got to do what we've got to do," Chris Paul said.

The Clippers have done this before. In a 2015 first-round series vs. No. 6 seed San Antonio, the Clippers lost Game 5 at home. They responded with a 102-96 road win victory behind Blake Griffin's 26 points and Paul's 15 assists, overcoming Tim Duncan's 27 points for the Spurs.

"We had to go into a tough environment, win a game, come back home to win Game 7," Paul said.

The obvious difference this time is Griffin is missing, sidelined for whatever's left of the Clippers' postseason with a toe injury. The Clippers got 28 points from Paul and 26 from J.J. Redick in Game 5, but Jamal Crawford scored only four.

What do you expect to see in game 6?

How impressive is it that the Jazz won a road game on game 5? Five series in this round of the playoffs were tied at 2-2. They have all now played their game 5’s. The Jazz are the ONLY road team to win game 5.

Let’s look at the playoff standings

How do you see the rest of the first round going?

Random non-playoff news:

Evan Fournier was in Utah

He’s good friends with Rudy right?

Why we love Quin

The Jazz deleted this tweet, I loved it. So savage.