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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Jazz fans aren’t ready to see the season end, and neither is the team.
The growth of the Jazz has been well documented since the All-Star break, and momentum has continued to grow for Utah. The team picked up one of its most impressive wins of the season Saturday, beating Portland without stars Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and scorer Trey Burke.
With the Jazz playing their final home game Monday against the Dallas Mavericks, the team hosted a Fan Appreciation Night to celebrate the fan base’s patience during the team’s rebuild.
The way the Jazz have played since the All-Star break, continuing with a 109-92 win over Dallas, it looks like fans will have a lot to appreciate in the coming years.
With the win, the Jazz finished the season 21-20 at home. The home schedule featured thrilling home wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder, while including some disappointing moments as well.
#UJ1
With all of it in mind, Jazz coach Quin Snyder said the season’s ending seems hard to imagine.
“It feels like literally it was a few days ago we started. I feel like we’ve improved, and it’s been fun for the fans to see that improvement,” he said
The Jazz were without Hayward, Favors and Burke against Dallas, while the Mavericks were without Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler — circumstances that were similar to Saturday’s Portland win.
The Jazz did well without the trio, outscoring Dallas 30-12 in the third quarter alone. Utah finished to shoot 50 percent (41-of-82) for the game, and outrebounded the Mavericks 48-42.
As this Jazz season comes to an end, there are new beginnings happening. First, the team announced it will once again host a series of summer games, similar to the old Rocky Mountain Revue summer league, called the Utah Jazz Summer League.
Also, the absence of some of the team’s more established players allowed players like Rudy Gobert and Bryce Cotton to shine.
Cotton scored a career-high 21 points, while Gobert contributed a season-high 20 points and 17 rebounds.
Cotton said his mindset against Dallas was to attack, early and often, like he did against Portland.
“(My mindset) was to come in and bring high energy,” he said. “I’m not the tallest guy on the court, so I’ve got to use my speed to my advantage. I always keep up the tempo and pace of the game.
“I’ve always played with a chip on my shoulder because I’ve been overlooked, even trying to get into college. That’s just life; anything you do, you’ve got to prove yourself over and over again.”
The Providence product had an alley-oop early in the second quarter that ignited the crowd after Rodney Hood threw a lob pass that Cotton threw down with authority.
In spite of his 6-foot-1 frame, Cotton said Snyder drew the play up for him.
"I'm proud of (my team), unequivocally. I don't know how to express that any other way, than just to state it that simply," said Jazz coach Quin Snyder.
“Me and Coach had talked about it earlier in the day after walk-through, because I used to catch lobs in the D-League,” he said. “We ended up running that play tonight, and it worked.”
Gobert’s growth has been a subplot in a larger, encouraging Jazz storyline. The second-year French center said the future of the team is bright.
“The fans feel excited, as we are,” he said. “The Jazz haven’t been winning lately, and they really feel like we’ve got something for the future. They (fans) like the way we play, and we love the fans; they’re a big part of our success. The more we win, the more we’ll be there.”
The growth of the team’s second-unit over the past few games has been another sign of progress for a developing Jazz roster, and provides another storyline in an offseason that is growing almost too full.
Snyder said the development of players like D-League prospects Cotton and Chris Johnson is a credit to the commitment of the team, even in the final games.
“I think any adversity; you have an opportunity. You can let it derail you, or slow you down, or you can use it,” he said. “I think the experience, if you handle it in the right way, can be formative and it can help you.”
Besides the season, something else with the Jazz will be ending after Wednesday’s game against Houston. Longtime Jazz trainer Gary Briggs will be retiring after spending 15 seasons with the organization. Briggs started as the trainer in September 2000, after spending over a decade with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Briggs has assisted players from every era of the modern Jazz, from John Stockton and Karl Malone to Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer to today’s developing corps.
The longtime NBA trainer said the end of his career with the Jazz is bittersweet.
“It’s probably been a couple years since I started thinking about it,” he said. “I noticed the travel was harder to recover from, and being on-call 24/7, 365 was starting to wear on me. Part of the job is doing that, and for 33 years I loved that part.
“Overall, it’s been a great run. I’ve loved the people I’ve worked with. I came here, and it was kind of like a second chance after the only time I got fired. Utah gave me the chance to continue my career, and I’ll always be grateful for the Miller family and Kevin O’Connor who gave me that shot. The people have been great to me, and great to my family.”
Whether it’s a new beginning, or the close of a great career, Wednesday’s win was a celebration of a growing team and more-positive fan base.
Snyder said Jazz fans have been great to the organization — a reason why the team isn’t ready for the season to end.
“We’ve just tried to keep doing what we’re doing, regardless of what the situation is,” he said. “We just take the next game, and the next day, next month. Soon the next season will be here, and hopefully we are building something.
“I’m proud of (my team), unequivocally. I don’t know how to express that any other way than just to state it that simply. I’m proud of the fact they’ve committed to each day, and the days aren’t always easy. They’ve just toed the line, constantly.”
