On April 17, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs officially opened, and the Lone Ranger and jazz took the lead in ushering in the showdown. Doncic's calf strain confirmed that he did not qualify for G1, and although the Jazz are away from home, the winning side is not small.
At first, the shooting rate of both sides was not high, the Jazz used the throw to make a good start, the Lone Ranger did not sit still, the group of shooters led by Brunson set off an offensive climax to establish an advantage, and the Jazz relied on the mid-range shooting to bite the 3-point difference. In the second quarter of the tug-of-war, the Lone Ranger's outside feel was excellent and always maintained the lead, but the 3 and a half points in the back section suddenly fell into a scoring drought, and the Jazz seized the opportunity to directly surpass 2 points in a wave of 13-2.
After the break, the Lone Ranger continued to chase points, and Mitchell made a big deal, shooting 19 points in the inside and outside to help the Jazz extend their lead to 8 points. In the final quarter, the two sides hit iron in succession, Mitchell cut 7 consecutive points to help the Jazz stabilize the double-digit advantage, the Lone Rangers will continue to create kills and bite the score, as O'Neal hit the key three points, Brunson missed the opportunity to reverse, the Jazz narrowly won 99-93 over the Lone Rangers, the series total score was 1-0.
The Lone Ranger's failure to defend the home court is a slight regret, but this is a strategy for Kidd to test opponents, Doncic is not there, Brunson and Dinwiddie complete the established tactics, through the team defense to limit the Jazz to score below 100 points, and the shortcomings exposed by the Jazz are fatal.
Don't look at Mitchell's 32 points, 6 boards and 6 assists, but the Jazz's abandonment of the role of the inside line is undoubtedly self-destruction. Throughout the game, Gobert almost did not get a single assist from his teammates, only 5 points, 17 boards and 3 hats, Mitchell took the lead in excluding Gobert on the court, which will inevitably deepen the contradictions between them, so the Jazz are destined not to be optimistic.