You don't have to look any further than the guy played 38 minutes and he hasn't played that many minutes all year. He's battling. – Jazz coach Quin Snyder
SALT LAKE CITY — Ever since the opening seconds of the first playoff game in Los Angeles, the Utah Jazz have had to play without their stalwart center Rudy Gobert. That has put a lot of pressure on seventh-year player Derrick Favors, who has had to carry the load inside for the Jazz in all three games against the Clippers.
After scoring 15 points in Game 1 and 13 in Game 2, the load got kind of heavy for Favors in Friday’s game where he only managed to score two points with six rebounds in a season-high 38 minutes.
Meanwhile, opposing center DeAndre Jordan finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers.
Coach Quin Snyder wasn’t about to throw Favors under the bus, despite his lack of production in Game 3. Instead, he praised him for his effort in playing so many minutes.
“You don’t have to look any further than the guy played 38 minutes and he hasn’t played that many minutes all year,” Snyder said. “He’s battling. He’s competing, playing hard, and we’re asking a lot of him right now. We’re going to keep doing that, and he’s going to give us everything he has.”
After playing center Jeff Withey for nine minutes in each of the first two games, Snyder opted to leave the former Kansas center on the bench Friday night, choosing to use Boris Diaw in a backup center role. Snyder wouldn’t say if that would change for Sunday’s game, but he may be looking to get Favors more rest. After Saturday's practice, he was seen sitting and talking to Withey for several minutes.
“I think he got tired,” Snyder said of Favors. “He’s an important part of what we do whether it's 38 or 28 or 18 minutes. He’s done a great job of playing through it all year. I know it’s not easy, but at the same time we’ve got to be aware of that.”
SUNDAY AT HOME: For the first time since 2010, the Jazz will be playing a home game on a Sunday.
The Jazz have not played Sunday regular-season home games for at least a couple of decades at the request of Jazz owner Larry Miller, who asked the NBA not to schedule Sunday games out of respect for the local LDS culture.
However, Sunday playoff games are a different matter, and this year’s Sunday game will be the 23rd in Jazz history. The Jazz have won 12 of the previous Sunday playoff home games, including the last one on April 25, 2010, against Denver. The most famous Sunday game was the 87-86 loss to Chicago in the 1998 NBA Finals.
NO CONTINUATION: With 4.7 seconds left Friday night, the crowd at Vivint Arena let out a big cheer thinking that Boris Diaw had tied the game at 108 with a 3-pointer after he was fouled intentionally by DeAndre Jordan. However, the shot was waved off and Diaw was given two free throws, of which he missed the first.
To some folks, it looked like a play you see every night in the NBA where players like James Harden and Russell Westbrook get the benefit of “continuation” calls, firing up a shot, right after getting hit.
But not this time.
A pool reporter asked the officials about the call, and the response by crew chief Mike Callahan was, ”The foul happened on the dribble prior to the gather of the ball. That’s why it’s not continuation.”
Jazz coach Quin Snyder preferred not to comment whether the play on Diaw was called correctly or not, except to say, “I know it’s a point of emphasis they talk about when a guy gathers in his shooting motion — it puts a lot of pressure on the referees to use discretion.”
NETO SIGHTING: Dante Exum didn’t play for the third straight game, but Raul Neto got three minutes of action as the third point guard, during which he scored five points on a fadeaway baseline jumper and a 3-pointer from the right corner.
Snyder explained why he suddenly put Neto into the game at the start of the fourth quarter instead of Shelvin Mack, who has been getting backup point guard minutes.
“He’s been a really consistent player for us defensively and last night he was able to knock down an open shot,” Snyder said. “He’s been doing that all year. He was playing those minutes before he got hurt, so when he was out, Shelvin came in and did a good job. We’ve played a lot of guys there and try to feel the game. You’re not always going to be right, but it felt like we needed a burst and some juice and (Neto) gave that to us.”