Clarkson’s Late Surge Not Enough as Jazz Fall in Battle of All-Stars

Clarkson was spectacular in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t quite enough for the Jazz. (Matthew Stockman via espn.com)

Three All-Stars took the floor on Thursday night at Denver’s Pepsi Center, on what was already a historic day for Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert before the game even started. Both players were named NBA All-Stars for the first time in their respective careers. Denver’s Nikola Jokic also received word of his second consecutive All-Star selection, pitting three of the league’s best against each other.

The Nuggets and the Jazz battled for the third seed in the Western Conference, with the Nuggets getting the inside track with a 106-100 win. This game will most likely have an important effect on each team’s future for playoff seeding. Long story short: an important game for the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz dominated the game for about 40 minutes of the matchup verse the Nuggets. The bad news is NBA games are 48 minutes long, not 40. The Jazz led the Nuggets 70-61 after a smooth three by Bojan Bogdanavic with 4:13 seconds remaining in the third quarter. After that, it was all Denver. The Nuggets got hot to end the quarter going on a 15-0 run including a buzzer beater three-pointer. The run continued into the fourth quarter and with 8:42 left to go in the game, Jordan Clarkson finally ended a devastating 27-1 run for the Denver Nuggets. The Jazz’s comfortable nine-point lead had now turned into a massive 17-point deficit. Disregard that 27-1 run and the Jazz outscored the Nuggets by 20, 99-79.

Why weren’t the Jazz able to stop this massive run? Jazz coach Quin Snyder provided the answer, “We stalled for a lot of reasons. It was difficult for us to attack. I think we have to have more resolve. We’re a team where guys make plays for each other and we weren’t able to create for one another.”

Thankfully, Clarkson got things going again and gave the Jazz a shot to win back the game. Clarkson had 24 of Utah’s 30 points in the fourth quarter and finished the night with 37 points, his highest total since joining the Jazz. The Jazz were able to pull within three points down the stretch after being down 17 points, but the late surge was not enough. Jokic made some big-time shots, at one point scoring 11 straight Nugget points to to keep Denver just in front of Clarkson’s hot streak.

The newly named All-Star Mitchell struggled offensively. Mitchell had failed to score until 4:05 remaining in the fourth quarter when he made a tough floater. Donovan hadn’t been scoreless through three quarter since October 21, 2017 when he finished with two points off of a layup in the fourth. Mitchell has never gone a game without scoring in his NBA career. After making two free-throws down the stretch he ended the night with only 4 points on 1-for-12 shooting and 0-for-6 from behind the ark.

Mitchell credited his defender, Torrey Craig, by saying, “He made it tough on me,” Mitchell said. “He always does. I can’t sit here and say ‘Oh, I was tired.’ He did his job.” Mitchell did finish with eight assists and was great at finding the open guy. Two particular possessions that showed his passing ability were toward the end of the first quarter. With two minutes left Mitchell bobbled the ball, maintained possession had a chance for three, but passed it off to Clarkson who made the triple (see video below).

🚨 𝗕𝗨𝗭𝗭𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 🚨 pic.twitter.com/R6NxMVwT0c

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 31, 2020

A similar play happened with 2.5 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Mitchell again passed up a three in order to find Clarkson who made another one. Although Mitchell struggled offensively, he has showed maturity and poise by finding the right shot and not just settling when he is open. This same thing happened down the stretch against the Dallas Mavericks a few games ago when Mitchell passed the ball off to O’Neal for a three and it ended up winning us the game.

Gobert had another All-Star performance for the Utah Jazz with his regular dominance. He finished with 21 points to go along with 11 boards and 3 blocks. He went 9-of-10 from the floor.

Things to be “noted”:

The Jazz have lost three games in a row for the second time of the season. After claiming position as the second seed in the west, the Jazz have now dropped to the fourth seed. The Nuggets outrebounded Utah by eight and had six less turnovers.

An interesting story continues to unfold in Utah’s frontcourt. Tony Bradley, the usual backup for Rudy Gobert did not play in last night’s game. Instead, Ed Davis played eleven minutes finishing with two rebounds and a steal. Bradley was the prominent backup for Rudy Gobert until recently as Davis has had the majority of the minutes. It will be interesting to watch what unfolds for the backup position to Gobert.

The Jazz made 17 threes against the Nuggets. This totals 20 straight games when the Jazz have made ten or more threes.

Mike Conley sat for the first time after playing six games, with the Jazz citing injury management as the Jazz played back-to-back games. Emmanuel Mudiay returned to play after being out for a few games. Mudiay changed his number from 8 to 15 out of respect to Kobe Bryant, who recently passed away in a helicopter accident.

The Jazz look to bounce back from their recent skid as they face Damian Lillard and the Trailblazers in Portland.