On Friday, Utah Jazz were kicked out of the first round of the playoffs after a 98-96 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks, losing the playoff series 4-2.
Bojan Bogdanovic had the opportunity to win it for Utah Jazz with an open look at a 3-pointer in the closing but missed, seeing his team crash out of the playoff series and the ramifications could be greatly dramatic.
Utah Jazz has now made it to the playoffs for 6 consecutive seasons but has continually been eliminated early in the post-season and that was the case once again this time around. It was even worse with Mavericks star Luka Doncicout injured for the opening few games of the playoff series.
ESPN NBA analyst Michael Wilbon claimed earlier in the week that Utah Jazz would have to “blow up” the squad and start all over again should it go down to Dallas Mavericks.
Wilbon said on The Tony Kornheiser Show, “Utah is going away. They are going to blow that team up.”
“I don’t know if they are going to keep Donovan Mitchell and try to build around him or if they’ll trade Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. I don’t know the answer to that or if anybody does. I think it depends on the offers that are out there.”
Mitchell is the most possible piece to be on the trade table considering he would attract several interests across the league although Rudy Gobert is another trade option.
Matt Barnes also said there would be a big opportunity at Utah Jazz should they not make it beyond the second round, let alone the first round, and maintained that on Twitter yesterday. Their fans will also have a chance to claim some wins using picks from FlashPicks when the team continue their fight in the playoffs.
“They’ve been one of the better teams in the Western Conference for the last two to three years and all they have to show for that is two first-round exits and a second-round exit,” Barnes disclosed on ESPN’s ‘NBA Today’ earlier this month.
“I’ve continually said: ‘Who is going to be their consistent next second guy?’. They’re missing that second key guy and don’t be surprised if this falls flat on its face again if Donovan Mitchell leaves Utah.”
Mitchell secured 23 points, and 9 assists with8 rebounds on Friday to lead the way for Utah Jazz but it was not enough with Doncic and Brunson (24 points) coming up big for Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks will square up against the Phoenix Suns in the second round.
The possible fallout of another early postseason defeat has been a subject of much talk around the NBA all campaign, especially among teams that would be keen to trade for Mitchell or fellow cornerstone Rudy Gobert if Utah Jazz eventually decides to break up the partnership.
“No matter what, I’m always going to do my best to be the best Rudy I can be on and off the floor and win,” Gobert disclosed after Utah’s 98-96 Game 6 defeat. “The rest is out of my control.”
How much longer will Mitchell, who has 3-years and a fourth-year player option remaining on his deal, remains committed to the franchise that drafted him?
Several teams are eagerly awaiting the answer; reports suggest teams have been planning for months in anticipation of the 3-time All-Star asking to be traded this offseason. Mitchell did not commit himself when asked about the possibility in the wake of their elimination.
“My mindset is to win. Like I said, right now, I’m not really looking at [asking for a trade],” Mitchell said. “For me, I just want to win.”
“This hurts,” Mitchell said. “Like I said, I’ll think about it in a week and go from there, but right now, I’m not really thinking about any of that.”
‘The Shot’ was an iconic moment in the career of former National Basketball Association (NBA) superstar Michael Jordan and, arguably, the most noteworthy play in the history of basketball. ‘The Shot’ occured in the closing seconds of the fifth, decisive game of a best-of-five NBA playoff series between Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers at the Richfield Coliseum, Ohio on May 7, 1989.
In a tense, tightly fought contest, the lead changed hands half a dozen times in the last few minutes. With just three seconds remaining, Cavaliers’ shooting guard Craig Ehlo scored a basket to put his team 100-99 ahead but, remarkably, that was not the final score. Bulls’ coach Paul Douglas ‘Doug’ Collins said later that the tactic behind the final play, which led to ‘The Shot’, was simply, ‘get the ball to Michael and everybody get the [expletive] out of the way!’
Jordan received the ball on the right side of the court, dribbled towards the free throw lane, a.k.a. the ‘key’, and rose for a jumpshot from inside the free throw circle. Ehlo, one of the Cavaliers’ leading defenders, leapt to block the shot, but Jordan appeared to hang in the air, almost levitating, to create space above Ehlo, before releasing the shot. The ball dropped into the net right on the buzzer, giving the Bulls a 101-100 victory, with Jordan pumping his fists in celebration. The Chicago Bulls subsequently progressed to the Eastern Conference finals, where they were ultimately eliminated by the Detroit Pistons.
Watch The Shot
On April 15, 1947, Jack Roosevelt ‘Jackie’ Robinson made history by becoming the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) since the organisation was formed, by the merger of the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), in 1903. He was, in fact, the first African-American to play in any of the major leagues since Moses Walker played for the Toronto Blue Stockings in the defunct American Association (AA) – a short-lived major league active from 1882 to 1891 – in 1884.
Robinson, 28, signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers less than a week before the start of the 1947 season. He started at first base in the first game of the season against the Boston Braves at the now-demolished Ebbets Field and, in so doing, broke the so-called ‘colour line’ or ‘colour barrier’ in Major League. According to the ‘New York Times’, despite scoring the eventual go-ahead run in a 5-3 victory for the Dodgers, Robinson made an otherwise ‘uneventful’ debut. Of course, his major league debut had ramifications far beyond the self-contained world of baseball and, in hindsight, was a pivotal event in the history of the civil rights movement in the United States. Robinson would go on to win the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, the first year in which he became eligible.
On February 22, 1980, at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, a young, inexperienced United States’ men’s ice hockey team defeated the Soviet Union ‘Dream Team’ in the first game of the medal round, thereby creating one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history.
The Soviet Union team had won gold medals at the previous four Winter Olympics and, having beaten the United States 10-3 in an exhibition match at Madison Square Garden, New York City less than two weeks earlier, were overwhelming favourites to do so once again. However, despite their lack of National Hockey League (NHL) experience, the United States’ players held their own in the first quarter, which finished 2-2, and trailed just 3-2 at the end of the second, thanks in no small part to heroics on the part of goaltender James ‘Jim’ Craig.
Approaching the halfway point in the third, and final, period, Mark Johnson took advantage of a deflected shot by David Silk to level the scores at 3-3. Less than a minute-and-a-half later, captain Michael Eruzione, who previous experience was with the Toledo Blades in the International Hockey League, scored to give the United States a 4-3 lead. Despite intense pressure in the final five minutes, the Americans refused to panic and, with Craig once again the hero of the hour, held on to win what was later dubbed ‘The Miracle on Ice’. To complete the fairy tale, two days later, the United States beat Finland to win the gold medal.
Watch highlights from The Miracle on Ice