NBA Playoffs: The Jazz play all the right notes to eliminate the Grizzlies in Game 5
Salt Lake City, Utah – On a night where more than one team wrapped up the first round nice and early, the Utah Jazz also progressed in the West by demolishing the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 5.
After a surprising loss in game one, the Jazz got back to their winning ways and won four straight games in the series to advance on to the Western Conference semifinals. Utah came out from the start with full-on intentions to close this series out in a big way, with a 126-110 win over the Grizzlies.
Donovan Mitchell (24) put his team on his back and shot lights-out in the first half, scoring 24 of his 30 points in that period. He was happy to spread around the offense in the second half, racking up ten assists. Rudy Gobert also pitched in with 23 points and 15 boards.
Memphis never held a lead in the game and the only time they were tied with Utah was the tip-off. After nearly giving up 50 in the first quarter alone, it was painfully easy for the Grizzlies to start thinking about summer vacation plans.
To their credit, Memphis did break 50 at the half, but that didn’t mean much compared to Utah’s franchise record 75 first-half points.
The Jazz were just too much at home for the Grizzlies
The Grizzlies as a team had fewer turnovers than the Jazz throughout the series. However, that doesn’t equal success without the rest of team backing up the disciplined play. Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks each scored 27 points for Memphis, but the rest of the team had trouble measuring up against the overall number-one seed in the NBA.
The Grizzlies did outscore the Jazz most of the time during the first round, but Utah gladly took that trade-off as three-pointers rained in over the course of five games. That included 17 threes dropped in the clincher.
The Jazz can now rest easy and wait for the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Dallas Mavericks first-round series.
Cover photo: IMAGO / Icon SMI