The Bogey Bail-out Game

Bogey celebrates after rescuing the Jazz on Friday night. (via utahjazz.com)

Bojan Bogdanovic was the star of the Jazz’s Friday-night 103-100 win over the Bucks. He came up big when his team was struggling during Milwaukee rallies. He made star plays and shifted momentum. And he beat the buzzer to win the game against the league’s best offense and a likely title contender.

After a 7-0 run to start the first half, it felt like the Jazz had taken control of the game and it was going to be one of those kind of games. Brook Lopez got into early foul trouble. Giannis Antetokounmpo was entirely ineffective against Rudy Gobert, and the Jazz offense was finally clicking with huge first halves from Mike Conley and Bogdanovic. After a 20-point lead at halftime, 55-35 and holding the league’s best offense to only 35 points, it felt like the game was in the bag. Of course, you can’t count your chickens before they hatch, especially not against a team like the Bucks, but it was still a 20 point lead at home where the Bucks haven’t won for 17 straight years.

Two minutes into the second half and everything had changed. Giannis unleashed his inner Giannis and the Bucks looked like the Bucks again. And the Jazz looked like… not the Jazz. They appeared to contain the rally late into the third quarter but things collapsed time after time before the Bucks finally pushed ahead late in the fourth.

It wasn’t until a few more dominant defensive stretches that an 8 point lead with 53 seconds left and the Jazz once again had control of the game. The following stretch turned out to be a very crucial and costly stretch. First, Gobert turned the ball over while handling in the backcourt, and the Bucks capitalized with a score. Gobert then missed two free throws. What did the Bucks do? They capitalized. Just like that and every other lead the Jazz held that game, it evaporated.

With 8 seconds left, the game was tied 100-100 (Jazz hit 100 first, so at least we can count on Lawler’s Law, right?). Donovan Mitchell had a great opportunity to get downhill and use the clock for a last second shot to avoid overtime. And maybe overtime wouldn’t have been terrible since Giannis had fouled out, with how the chips were falling throughout the night, overtime didn’t feel like a great option. Of course, with 16 turnovers not nearly enough to appease the turnover-happy Jazz, Donovan was stripped by George Hill on his drive and the Bucks took possession with just over 2 seconds remaining.

I hope you don’t need to read this to know what happened next. You just need to go watch. Seriously. Go watch. For the stubborn: Gobert forced a travel by challenging a Khris Middleton 3-point attempt and causing the All-Star wing to go up-and-down with the ball. Jazz coach Quin Snyder then drew up a brilliant play to get Bogey a wide open corner three that he nailed as time expired. Despite the bumps and bruises, the ending will go down as a game of the season and a highlight for Bogey’s career.

It was a game the Jazz could have and perhaps should have lost based on their second half play. Said differently, perhaps because of the Bucks’ second half play, they deserved the win. Either way, it was really ugly. The Bogey Bail-out was also very poetic, as Bogey singlehandedly stopped Milwaukee’s comeback rallies on multiple occasions with big threes (including a 4-point play) and vicious dunks. On a night when Donovan Mitchell shot 8-of-22 with 8 turnovers, it would have been almost impossible to beat the elite Bucks. The Jazz would have lost most games in that situation last season.

This roster is different. And though the offense is not quite clicking yet (26th offensively), the defense is oppressive. The top-rated defense is even more impressive considering the slate of games they’ve played. The team provided glimpses of the offense in the first half and the breakout offensive game feels like it’s on its way. Perhaps next game when the Jazz take on the Golden State Warriors sans all their All-Stars on Monday night.