Utah Jazz: 3 reasons the season is over

After a season that wasn’t expected from the Utah Jazz, they ended up losing 4-1 to the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals. Here’s how their season ended.

The Utah Jazz were not expected to be as good as they were this year with the loss of Gordon Hayward. Despite his departure, they wound up finishing fifth in the Western Conference. They won a first round playoff series, which was unexpected of them as well.

Donovan Mitchell was supposed to just be a rookie and, then he was just supposed to be a rotation player once he earned the right to more playing time. He wound up being their leading scorer and their go-to player down the stretch.

After the Jazz had a great second half of their season, they ended up being matched up in the crowded West with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder had superstar players in Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, but they were no match for the Jazz.

Utah then met the top-seeded Houston Rockets in the conference semifinals. The Rockets won the first game easily, but the Jazz would not go down without a fight, winning Game 2 with a performance from Mitchell that defined his whole season.

Unfortunately, they wound up losing the next three games to end the season. Here are three reasons the Jazz are done for the year.