Here’s a look at how the Utah Jazz weren’t able to pick up a Game 5 victory and close out the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road.
Here’s an interesting statistic: The Utah Jazz are 3-2 when Carmelo Anthony is in the starting lineup for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
While that statistic is stating a fact, it highlights one thing about this series: statistics don’t paint the whole picture — in this series, or ever.
In all of these pieces, statistics have been cited, videos have been inserted, and tweets have been linked. That is all well and good, yet even as a collective whole, they only tell part of the story. It may seem odd to have a history lesson in a closeout game, but sometimes it’s more important to contextualize than hope that outside sources help visualize the situation.
Utah wasn’t even supposed to be here. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year after homegrown star Gordon Hayward departed for the Boston Celtics. Instead, at season’s end, (whenever that is for this Jazz squad, whether they make it out of the first round or win the whole thing), the Jazz may have the Rookie of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year trophies added to this franchise’s storied history. They have something they haven’t really had in a long time: hope.
While emotions can bring things like hope, they can also bring things like despair, and the whole spectrum in-between was experienced by fans of both teams during Wednesday’s Game 5.
The game began closely contested, with the score 34-29 after one quarter of play. Then, it really looked like Utah was going to head to Houston, as the Thunder only scored 12 points in the second quarter. Then, the third quarter happened.
Fact: The Utah Jazz were up 25 at one point in the third quarter.
Fact: By the end of the quarter, the Utah Jazz were tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder, 78-78, due to the reigning MVP doing his best Thor impression with a 20-point quarter, capped off by this 3 to end an extremely up-and-down quarter:
https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/989345836948754433
Russell Westbrook would finish the game with 45 points (albeit on 39 shot attempts), 15 rebounds and seven assists, including the 20-point third quarter:
Paul George would chip in 34 points of his own, and while the remaining member of OKC’s Decent Sized 3 would only finish with seven points, the Thunder would still be leaving Chesapeake Energy Arena with a win.
For the Jazz, their leading scorer came off the bench. Jae Crowder would finish the night with 27 points (more on him in a bit), but all but one starter finished in double digits in scoring, and that was more so because of his foul trouble than anything else.
While Jazz fans are allowed to be discouraged after a Game 5 loss, they shouldn’t go into full Eeyore mode. Here’s why.