Due to the 1-2 deficit in the first three games of the series, and the announcement of the return of the lone ranger star Luka Doncic, the outside world was not very optimistic about the situation of the Utah Jazz, and some people even thought that they would be defeated and easily eliminated by the Lone Ranger. But the Jazz obviously did not want to surrender easily, they went through twists and turns, with the starting center Rudy Gobert's air-connected dunk, and finally killed the Lone Ranger, and the Jazz also successfully used the home advantage to equalize the aggregate score.
In fact, against the Mavericks, the Jazz's best players are not the two core Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, but Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson. The fourth game of the series broke out again, in which Jordan Clarkson appeared as a substitute, but he shot 9 of 15, including 3 three-pointers, cut a team-high 25 points, in addition to Jordan Clarkson also contributed 4 rebounds and 1 steal, +18 plus or minus is also the highest of all players on both teams.
It should be noted that Jordan Clarkson is also a true Lakers veteran, and he was brought back to Los Angeles by the Purple and Gold in 2014 with a total 46 pick in the second round. During his time with the Lakers, Jordan Clarkson has a good performance, he can average double-digit points per game every season, and the progress rate is still very fast. In particular, in the 15-16 season, the year after Jordan Clarkson entered the league, he averaged 15.5 points, 4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. At that time, the Los Angeles Lakers were in a long rebuilding period, and it was a mess off the court, in addition to the retirement tour of legendary superstar Kobe Bryant, the growth of young players such as Jordan Clarkson was one of the few highlights of the Lakers in those years, and the place where their fans were happy.
However, Jordan Clarkson's flaws are also very obvious, and his playing style is a bit like that of his predecessors Louis Williams and Jamal Crawford, although he is a double guard, but the ability to organize passing is relatively average, and due to the lack of stability, this kind of player is certainly not the core. Coupled with strong attack and weak defense, being able to be a super sixth person of a team should be their limit. So the Lakers did not regard Jordan Clarkson as an irreplaceable part, and before the 17-18 season deadline, the Lakers sent the potential two-legged guard away.
Jordan Clarkson's next stop was the Cleveland Cavaliers, when LeBron James had not yet left, so under his leadership, the Cavaliers once again reached the Finals. However, at that time, Jordan Clarkson performed averagely, and it was not until the second season that LeBron James left again and the Cavaliers entered the rebuilding period, and Jordan Clarkson played better. He averaged 16.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, but for the then weak Cavaliers, such data did not help, and as the saying goes, the statistics of the rotten team cannot be taken too seriously, so Jordan Clarkson's performance did not attract enough attention at that time, and the Cavaliers did not intend to keep him for a long time.
So before the 19-20 season deadline, Jordan Clarkson was sent to the Utah Jazz again, and probably no one could have imagined that this change of team would allow him and the Jazz to reach their peaks. In the summer of 2020, Jordan Clarkson became a free agent, the Jazz renewed a new four-year, $51.5 million contract with him, and last season Jordan Clarkson averaged 18.4 points, 4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.5 steals per game, and he was successfully elected the best sixth man, which also helped the Jazz to the top of the league in the regular season.
Jordan Clarkson's form has slipped slightly this season, averaging 16 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, and in addition to the decline in stats, Jordan Clarkson's three-point shooting rate has also dropped to 32%. But in this round of the series, Jordan Clarkson is quite powerful, although the Jazz have lost in the past two games, but in the second game of the series, Jordan Clarkson scored 21 points and 2 assists, which is the Jazz's best player. In the third game of the series, Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. At the end of the four games in the series, Jordan Clarkson averaged 17.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, and the shooting rate was as high as 60.5%, the three-point shooting rate reached 50%, and the free throw shooting rate was more than 90%, which was really hot.
In the case of Donovan Mitchell encountering strict defense, the state is somewhat volatile, Rudy Gobert lacks the ability to score independently, and the offensive threat is relatively limited, Jordan Clarkson's firepower output is really a solution to the Jazz's urgent need. To know that the opposite lone ranger originally has home advantage, and the star Luca Donchi has just returned, there are more changes in itself, if you lose consecutively in your home field, the total score of the series is 1-3 behind, and the suspense of winning or losing will not be too big. Fortunately, the outbreak of Jordan Clarkson has pulled the Jazz back from the edge of the cliff, and in the case of death, the Jazz's morale has been greatly boosted, and this round of the series has more variables.