Utah’s back bid falls short compared to Indiana

Sometimes things don’t go your way.

Playing with a heavy heart on a Thursday night, that was the exact situation the Jazz was in.

Despite a comeback in the fourth quarter, Utah couldn’t get over it and failed 111-100 when visiting Indiana, beating their record to 8-4.

Head coach Quin Snyder said: “I think defensively there have been some breakdowns in many different areas. “It’s hard to pinpoint anything. I thought sometimes, especially when we’re flipping the ball, it’s really hard for us to defend against changes in direction.”

| Highlights from our Indy match #podiumpostgame | @podiumhq pic.twitter.com/kjVbHZW1Mu

– Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 12, 2021

The match was tense from the start, seemingly like a playoff atmosphere with physicals and limitations allowing both teams to play through it.

Things came to a head at the end of round 4 when a small scuffle resulted in 4 people being eliminated: Donovan Mitchell (Utah), Joe Ingles (Utah), Rudy Gobert (Utah) and Myles Turner (Indiana).

In his post-match address, Snyder alluded to a surge of emotions, especially considering what the Jazz players have been through in the past 24 hours.

Speaking to the media ahead of tonight’s game, Mitchell, Ingles and Snyder all offered heartfelt and heartfelt responses to the tragic death of Izzy Tichenor, a 10-year-old girl who died by suicide after being arrested. bullying at school.

“As an organization, there’s definitely people behind them (the Tichenor family.) Whatever we can do, we’ve had a really good conversation about some of the things that we can clarify. Obviously now, to try and help as much as we can,” Ingles said this morning. “But also make sure that this doesn’t happen again in the future. And not just for kids with special needs, any child, every child, every adult, everyone deserves it. get to work, go to school or whatever we’re doing and go and be free and enjoy it.”

Izzy was light. Izzy is love.#StandForIzzy pic.twitter.com/K8NK3Ew9ks

– Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 12, 2021

When asked if it would be difficult to distinguish such a serious and tragic social issue by going out and doing her job on the court, Mitchell was honest in her answer.

“I can only speak for myself when I say, I don’t think I do it that hard,” Mitchell said. “You play for Izzy tonight, you have that feeling. You put your heart and soul into it. … Especially with situations like that, it’s even harder for you because, at the end of the day, you realize your impact playing this game.”

Before the scuffle at the end of the fourth round, Utah was struggling to get past an energetic Pacers.

The Jazz exploded to start the game, knocking down seven of their first eight shots to take a 22-18 lead. But when they turned cold, Indiana responded with a 10-0 win to take a two-man lead late in the first half.

Utah was still able to hold out in the second half despite the game being cooled thanks to good efforts and equally fierce in defense. But a late 11-3 Pacers put the Jazz into a 60-51 lead at halftime.

Stretching to 12 points midway through the third quarter, Utah managed by seven points in a row to cut the deficit to 74-71. But Indiana always has a response, knocking down 3 consecutive possessions to regain control.

Utah made one last shot, cutting the deficit to five at the start of the fourth quarter after Eric Paschall was fired. Once again, Indiana responded with a score of 8-2 of its own, sending the game out of reach before eventual problems.

Mitchell is adamant that the emotions of the day and the final brawl were not a direct result of the team losing. The main reasons, he noted, are a rebound in deficits, revenue, and defensive misinformation.

“We’re all a team, we’re just not defending,” Mitchell said. “Even if we did, we missed another rebound, and then they’ll score. It’s hard to play great defensively, then they get a rebound and then they do. …and on top of not taking the shot, it’s a lot of things that add up to what we don’t do well.

He scored a team-high 26, adding five assists, four rebounds and three steals while shooting 11 to 20 from the field and 3 to 7 from outside the arc. Gobert added another double with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Jordan Clarkson was the only other Utah player to get the double with 11 points.

| Donovan: 26p | 5r | 4a | 3 seconds | 3 3 pm#TakeNote | @ZionsBank pic.twitter.com/P1NbF045oR

– Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 12, 2021

The Jazz will have less than 48 hours to regroup before hosting the Eastern Conference’s top team, the Miami Heat, on Saturday. Tipoff is booked at 3pm

“We did some runs, but we couldn’t hit the stop we needed,” Gobert said. “We have to come back on Saturday and keep improving. It’s been a long season, let’s continue to trust each other and keep playing as a team.”