Utah Jazz: The right guy took the right shot

Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic (44) prepares to shoot the last-second shot but missed during Game 6 of the NBA playoffs in Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 28, 2022. The Mavericks won 98-96 and advance to the second round.

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There are a lot of things that Utah Jazz fans can be mad about when thinking about how the 2021-22 NBA season unfolded and ultimately came to an end, but the final shot in the final game is not one of them.

The inbound play drawn up by Quin Snyder freed up Bojan Bogdanovic for a wide open 3-pointer, and when the ball left his hands, every player on the Jazz felt confident, and every player on the Mavericks feared the worst.

“Oh, I was scared,” Spencer Dinwiddie said. “Bogey is a shooter. I spent a year with Bogey in Brooklyn and I have great respect for his game. He’s a very good shooter.”

Mavericks star Luka Doncic said that it felt like the shot hung in the air for 15 seconds, that an eternity passed by before the shot eventually hit the back of the rim and fell away.

“Man, I thought, he doesn’t miss a lot of those,” Doncic said. “My heart stopped.”

Though Bogdanovic will surely feel sick for a long time about missing the shot that could have forced a Game 7, he liked the look he got and said that he would take that shot again.

“(Royce O’Neale) trusted me with the pass and I was wide open,” he said. “I would take that shot 10 out of 10 times.”

Some might wonder why Bogdanovic didn’t drive in to try to get a 2-point basket to tie the game and force overtime, but as Bogdanovic pointed out in his postgame interview, the Mavericks were doing a great job all game and all series at cutting off those lanes, rotating over and doubling him at the rim, and he wasn’t exactly getting a ton of foul calls on those drives.

In the end, Bogdanovic was the right player with a perfect shot that didn’t go in. But, the one shot was not what lost the Jazz the game.

“No one play makes the game,” Snyder said. “It’s easy to focus in on the end of the game, but there were things throughout the game that you want to do a little bit better. Then maybe it gives you a different situation at the end of the game.

“As far as him having that shot — I think everybody in the locker room would want him to have that shot at that point in time.”

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Stat of the week

Jordan Clarkson was the Jazz’s best shooter in the playoffs, hitting 37.5% from 3-point range. He also had the second-best overall field goal percentage (54.8%) during the playoffs for the Utah Jazz, behind only Rudy Gobert (63.6%).

From the archives

This week in Jazz history

On May 3, 1974, “Pistol” Pete Maravich was obtained by the expansion New Orleans Jazz from Atlanta in exchange for first-round draft picks in 1974 and 1975, second-round picks in 1975 and 1976, and the Jazz’ second and third selections in the expansion draft.

Extra points

If the Jazz fall flat — again — in the playoffs, what’s next for this franchise? (Deseret News)
What were the issues at the heart of a disappointing season? (Salt Lake Tribune)
10 offseason questions for the Utah Jazz (The Athletic)
Last-second Bogdanovic miss a relief to the Mavericks (KSL.com)