PHOENIX — If Quin Snyder had his way, no one would have the right to judge his team or any other in the NBA until at least a month into the season. Or two. Or three.
One of the favorite phrases the Utah Jazz coach uses is “small sample size,” which means you can’t judge a team or player after only a few games.
Snyder knew his team had played just well enough to win its opener against Oklahoma City, then played poorly in a road loss to the Lakers Friday night before coming back with a convincing victory over Sacramento on Saturday. But he didn’t get too excited about the latter game, pointing out the Jazz had only played three games.
On Monday night in their second road game of 2019-20, the Jazz had another “ugly” game with a boatload of turnovers (23) and some poor shooting (38 percent), but they were able to escape with a 96-95 victory at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Donovan Mitchell sank one of two free throws with 0.4 seconds left to give the Jazz their third victory in four games this season. On the winning play, which began with 7.2 seconds left, Mitchell took the ball near midcourt and drove for the basket and was fouled by the Suns’ Devin Booker and made the first of two free throws.
Snyder praised his team’s defense for helping overcome the sloppy offensive play.
“The fact that we made as many mistakes as we did, we didn’t put our heads down and really worked to get stops,” he said. “When you do that, you have a chance. We had some really big plays down the stretch and our defense generated some offense.”
Mitchell struggled after three excellent games to start the season when he averaged 23.7 points on 58.7 percent shooting, including 50 percent from the 3-point line.
He started the night going 2 for 9 from the field in the first half and finished 9-of-24 shooting and 4 of 8 from the free-throw line for 25 points.
But he came up with the play of the night when he drove to the hoop to draw the foul.
“That’s something we work on and the ball is in his hands and we trust him to make a play in space and he did,” said Snyder. “He’s been in those situations and will continue to be in them. We trust him to do those things and he showed why tonight.”
New Jazzman Bojan Bogdanovic, who poured in 26 points Saturday night, had another strong game, leading the Jazz in scoring with 29 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Rudy Gobert had a double-double with 15 points and 18 rebounds.
Utah’s big offseason acquisition, Mike Conley, had another dreadful night, scoring just one point as he missed all seven of his field goal tries and was in foul trouble all night, playing just 20 minutes.
It didn’t matter that the Jazz had beaten the Suns by an average of 25 points in four games last season and an average of 19 in the two games in Phoenix. The Jazz knew they would be in for a fight against a Suns team that was coming off an eight-point win over the L.A. Clippers, a team many have penciled in as the Western Conference favorite this season. They also lost to another West favorite, Denver, by one point on the road.
After scoring 10 points in the first 11 minutes of the second quarter when they had 10 turnovers, the Jazz finished strong with eight points in the final minute to take a 46-39 lead into halftime.
But things unraveled in the third quarter as the Suns took the lead behind the play of Kelly Oubre and Aron Baynes and finished the quarter tied 70-70.
In the first five minutes of the quarter, the game was stopped for three reviews — a coach’s challenge by Snyder on Conley’s fourth foul of the game, a review of a flagrant foul by the Suns’ Booker that the Jazz wanted upgraded to a Flagrant 2, and a foul by Mitchell that was upgraded to a Flagrant 1 by officials. The Jazz lost the argument on all three reviews.
The Suns scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and kept the lead until Bogdanovic got loose for a drive to the basket and a free throw to make it 95-92 with 1:45 remaining. The Suns tied it a minute later on a 3-pointer by rookie Jevon Carter and had a chance to go ahead but Oubre missed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.
The Jazz have now played four games in the first six days of the season and will play three more over the next six days with a home game against the L.A. Clippers on Wednesday and road games at Sacramento Friday and the Clippers on Sunday.
GAME NOTES: The Jazz and Suns won’t play here again until April 11 and will play just once in Salt Lake, on Feb. 24. ... Before the game, the Suns honored former coach Al Bianchi, who passed away last week at the age of 87. ... Suns forward Kelly Oubre was fined $10,000 by the NBA Sunday for “directing inappropriate language toward a game official. ... DeAndre Ayton, the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft two years ago, was suspended for 25 games by the NBA for violating the NBA drug policy.