Utah Jazz: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Rockets

2. Supporting cast will be important for Utah

The second takeaway from Utah’s Game 1 loss is how important of a role the supporting cast will have to play in this series.

When it comes to a postseason series of facing off against one team for multiple games in a row, both teams become familiar with the other’s traits and tendencies extremely fast. The team that often finds success and comes out on top makes the proper adjustments throughout the course of a series.

Utah is going to need to see its supporting cast to step up to help out the duo of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell for the remainder of this series.

In Game 1, Gobert and Mitchell led the way for the Jazz. Gobert tallied a double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Mitchell’s 19 points and five boards.

Ricky Rubio and Derrick Favors had average games to follow up behind Gobert and Mitchell, with Rubio tallying 15 points and and six assists and Favors recording 13 points and six rebounds. But outside of those two contributions, Utah didn’t really get any other help in the game.

The cast consisting of Joe Ingles, Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, Royce O’Neale, Raul Neto and Thabo Sefolosha — all of which spent at least 10 minutes on the floor in game — scored a total of 19 points combined.

If the Jazz want to have a chance in this series, especially on the road in a tough atmosphere, they are going to need one of their members of their supporting cast to step up big.