SALT LAKE CITY – The first game of his highly anticipated first All-Star Game saw Mike Conley face off against Chris Paul for the opening spot of the second quarter.
He lost the jump.
“I was not prepared for the tip,” said Conley after that game. “I was told to go out and get ready to guard someone and I look back (and the sofa said), ‘Mike, go jump.’ I wish I had won the tip. “
You can now consider that a practice ride is for a much more important one.
With 1.9 seconds to go from Utah’s 117-114 victory over Memphis on Friday, Conley took on Ja Morant for a jump ball. The bet was simple: if he got it, the Jazz won. If he lost, the Grizzlies had one last chance to even the match.
The Jazz clearly assumed it would be the last. So much so that not a single jazz player was lined up behind Conley. Apparently Conley still has some hops. The veteran point guard got up and won the tip against the high-flying Morant, and Derrick Favors quickly rushed to get the rebound and secure the win.
“Mike got bouncing!” Jordan Clarkson said.
“I haven’t seen Mike jump that high since Ohio state,” added Donovan Mitchell.
Rudy Gobert joked, “Normally I would tell him to go upstairs like me, but I lost mine today so I couldn’t give him any advice – he wouldn’t take me seriously.”
That last game officially thwarted a furious Grizzlies rally in the fourth quarter, giving Utah the first round of a strange planning glee between Memphis. The two teams will face each other three times in four games, with Round 2 coming Saturday at Vivint Arena.
Prior to the game, the Jazz spoke about the strange midseason series with the Grizzlies. Gobert said it was going to be physical, and Georges Niang warned that Memphis wouldn’t disappear easily. There was nothing special about those quotes – just the usual cookie cutter statements about another team.
Then the game happened.
In the closing seconds, Kyle Anderson tried to fly over Rudy Gobert to get a late crucial rebound (and a lot of body), and Morant tried to pry the ball away from Conley, dropping the Jazz point guard to the ground .
Physical? To check.
Never say death? Check and check.
“It’s a real challenge because you can’t stick to one plan to beat that team,” Niang said before the game. “The way we monitor them tonight will be different from the way we monitor them tomorrow because teams are smart.”
Memphis had better have a new game plan for Saturday in Round 2, as what the Grizzlies did against Donovan Mitchell certainly didn’t work.
Jazz’s Guard All-Star had 35 points, six assists, and five rebounds. He got it underway early, scoring 19 points in the first half as the Jazz took a big lead. And he had it going late, scoring Utah’s last 10 points to hold back the Memphis rally.
Speaking of that rally, the Jazz will also have some things to work on during the rematch.
Utah (33-11) led with a whopping 21 points in the first quarter and looked like the team that ran through the rest of the league earlier this season. Mitchell had it done, Bojan Bogdanovic had found a rhythm by crawling into the paint and Gobert finished everything off the pick and roll.
The Jazz, who are at the top of the NBA standings for their three-point prowess, made just six three-pointers in the first half. Memphis made a concerted effort to clear the deep ball, so Utah went in.
Gobert had 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting; each of those shots was within 5 feet of the hoop.
“They stayed home with shooters, so it was hard to get those kick-outs,” said jazz coach Quin Snyder.
Gobert has improved as a passer this season and has found success finding teammates around corners as he rolls to the edge. Since the Grizzlies didn’t come down to stop him, he just scored himself.
“When they do a drop report and keep guys on the shooters, it’s usually a two-to-one every time,” said Gobert.
But after all that went well, a 13-5 Memphis run in the last minutes of the game meant the Jazz had to sweat out a final possession.
Dillon Brooks, who had made three consecutive threes in the fourth quarter, tried a game-tying 3 that bounced around and out. Conley went to the floor to secure the rebound, but was tied for a jump ball with 1.9 seconds to go.
Conley didn’t lose the jump this time.
“I think it’s a rolling bet in the locker room: we’re still waiting for him to submerge,” Clarkson said. So we should have bet he’ll win a jump ball too. He’s wearing Jordan – they just draw people who dunk and do stuff like that. I think Mike is the only one who stays on the ground so hopefully he gets a quick dunk and we win some money with that. “