Game Coverage

By the Stats: Utah’s loss to Boston

Not the most impressive offensive showing by the Jazz

By Jason S. Walker@jwalker_sports Mar 30, 2018, 2:30pm MDT

It hurt a bit to write this article (which is part of the reason why it’s a day late). The Utah Jazz weren't beaten by the Jaylen Brown’s 3-pointer or even the Boston Celtics. The Jazz beat themselves. Poor shooting and some key mistakes lead to their own downfall in what should have been a fairly easy win.

Box score for reference.

UTA Notable Performers

Donovan Mitchell: 22 points, 6 assists

Ricky Rubio: 14 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals

Jae Crowder: 16 points

BOS Notable Performers

Jaylen Brown: 21 points, 3/3 on 3PT, 7 rebounds, 3 assists

Jayson Tatum: 16 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks

Shane Larkin: 10 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists

Team Stats/Trends

The Jazz are 4-20 in games where they don’t score 100 points and allow their opponents score more than 90
Boston shot its fourth-best percentage on 3-point shots (57.1). The Celtics are now 5-0 when they shoot at least 54 percent from three.
Utah has allowed just five teams (across six games) to shoot 54 percent or better. The Jazz are 2-4 in those games with the two wins coming against the Sacramento Kings.
Wednesday’s game was the fourth time in March the Jazz have allowed an opponent to shoot over 50 percent from three.
The Jazz shots under 30 percent from three for the 20th time this season. They are 4-16 in those games and average a hair under 90 points per game.
Utah shot 41.5 percent from the field, but have not done bad in games when they shoot between 40 and 42 percent. The team is 6-3 in those games, including the loss to Boston.
Boston shot just 39.7 percent on 2-point shots. The Jazz were 13-2 heading into Wednesday’s game when their opponents shot under 44 percent.
21 of Utah’s 25 assists belonged to either Donovan Mitchell, Ricky Rubio or Joe Ingles.
Boston’s bench had the same number of rebounds as the starters (21).

Donovan Mitchell

Mitchell has scored 20 points in seven straight games, the longest streak of any rookie this year (he also has the second and third longest streaks of 20 points this year).
He needs 14 more 3-pointers to break Damian Lillard’s rookie 3-point record.
With 39 minutes, Mitchell has logged at least 35 minutes in 44 games. The next closest rookie is Ben Simmons at 33.

Ricky Rubio

Rubio’s 14 points and 10 assists was his 11th double-double of the season, third behind Derrick Favors (14) and Rudy Gobert (28).
It was the third time this year, Rubio has had at least 10 assists and two or fewer turnovers.
He has shot at least six 3-pointers in 10 games now, including against Boston. His percentage in those games is 38.2.

Rudy Gobert

Gobert recorded his 28th double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds
He had four turnovers, just the seventh game he has recorded at least four turnovers.
Gobert has made 75 percent of his free throws in March, third-best among centers that have played 10 games and shot at least five free throws per game.

Joe Ingles

Ingles was 2-7 from three (28.6 percent). The Jazz are 6-12 in games where he shoots under 30 percent from deep.
His 11 points, six points, five assists was his 14th game with 10/5/5 which is second on the team behind Ricky Rubio (21 games).

Quick Hits

Dante Exum has had a negative plus/minus in just two games since returning, one of those games being against Boston.
Jae Crowder has the best defensive rating of any bench player since the All-Star break that has averaged 20-plus minutes and played in 15 games. He also owns the fourth-best net rating of that group.
Derrick Favors had the second-best plus/minus of any player in the game with +15. The only player that outdid Favors was Shane Larkin (+25).

Random Stat

For the overly religious, Utah’s big three of Gobert, Mitchell and Rubio each shot six free throws.

Complex Stat

Ricky Rubio’s 14 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals was his eight game of at least 10/10/8/3 of his career. That total is fifth most in the NBA since 2011-12 (Rubio’s rookie year)