Now we have a series. The Utah Jazz tied their series up with the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 102-95 win on Wednesday. With the series knotted at 1-1, who will take the upper hand after Game 3? Will it be the Thunder again? Or will the Jazz taste their first series lead?
A debilitating fourth-quarter swoon that affected the Thunder’s Big Three was just too much for Oklahoma City to overcome Utah in Game 2. Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony were all not there when the Thunder needed them the most, as the three combined for just two points (on a pair of Westbrook free throws) on 0-for-14 shooting in the final period. These men are not paid top dollar to play like bozos in the playoffs, so expect the three to come up with a better collective effort this Saturday. That said, the Thunder also need to be more disciplined on defense. In Game 2, OKC committed 25 fouls that resulted to Utah taking 33 free throw attempts while the Thunder only had 18 tries from the charity stripe.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are 3-0 SU and ATS in their last three road games.
Welcome to 2018, the year when Ricky Rubio is able to drain multiple 3-pointers in a game. Rubio went 5-for-8 from behind the arc in Game 2, which would have caused his previous coaches in Minnesota have heart attacks, but this year’s version of Rubio is definitely no longer that kind of player. Rubio finished Game 2 with 22 points, but the real story for the Jazz is Donovan Mitchell and their defense. Mitchell paced the team with 28 points, while the Jazz held Russell Westbrook and company down to only 40 percent shooting. If there’s one thing they need to fix, it’s their ball security. The Jazz turned the ball over 16 times in Game 2 which translated to 29 points for OKC. Meanwhile, Utah only had 15 points off of OKC’s errors.
The Utah Jazz are 8-2 SU in their last 10 home games.
