The Utah Jazz saw their season come to a close on Friday night at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers after blowing a 28-point lead. Throughout the last few games of the series, LA was able to expose the Jazz defensively with a small-ball lineup, which left Rudy Gobert flabbergasted at times.
Speaking after being eliminated on Saturday, the Frenchman addressed where everything went wrong for Utah, per the Salt Lake Tribune's Eric Walden:
Rudy, on the dfense: "The problem is if I don't come and help, we give up layups. … The gameplan was for us to let Terance Mann shoot rather than letting Reggie Jackson or PG get layups. We tried to adjust with full rotations. They played perfectly on almost every possession."
— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) June 19, 2021
Well, their game plan sure came back to haunt them. Terance Mann absolutely went off against the Jazz, draining a career-high 39 points while scoring 30 of them when Gobert was the primary defender. Los Angeles also shot over 50% from downtown on Friday night.
The Jazz big man immensely struggled in Game 6. He frankly looked lost on the perimeter trying to defend. Like he said though, this was their plan all along. Mann hasn't exactly been the type of player who showed the ability to go off and lead the Clippers in points. Utah took the chance and unfortunately, they paid for it. LA also needs to be given credit because they were absolutely red-hot in the second half.
Nevertheless, it was a great season for the Jazz as they look to find motivation from their shocking exit from the postseason and come back with a vengeance in 2021/22.
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