Jazz Catch Fire And Scorch Hawks In Second Half

SALT LAKE CITY – On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam broke in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, pouring 20 million gallons of water over the helpless town below.

On November 4, 2021, the Jordan Clarkson Dam broke in Atlanta pouring 25 second half points on the heads of the hapless Hawks defenders in his path.

The dam break in Pennsylvania led to numerous lawsuits that changed liability laws across the United States. Though it’s early in the season, Clarkson’s dam break feels like it might change the trajectory of the Utah Jazz season, despite an already red-hot start to the year.

Thanks to 30 points from Clarkson, the Jazz downed the Hawks 116-98 as the team moved to 7-1 on the season and 4-1 away from home.

The @utahjazz got a huge second half from Jordan Clarkson as they moved to 7-1 with a win over the @ATLHawks. #takenote https://t.co/sVHWCmAJim

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) November 5, 2021

Clarkson’s Huge Second Half Ends Cold Streak

Clarkson entered the night after one of the worst shooting stretches in NBA history. The defending Sixth Man of the Year award winner entered the Jazz road trip having missed all 18 of his three-point attempts over his two previous games.

That tied Clarkson with former Jazzman Kyle Korver for the most missed threes over a two-game stretch without a make. Then, in the first half, it looked like his cold streak might continue.

The guard opened the game by missing all five of his first-half threes while scoring just five points on 1-8 shooting overall.

JC caught fire 🔥😅#TakeNote #UTAvsATL https://t.co/uR2F5nzjR9

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) November 5, 2021

But once the third quarter hit, Clarkson proved once again that he is one of the NBA’s most lethal second-unit scorers, pouring in 15 points on 5-6 shooting including 2-2 from the three-point line as if his poor start to the season had never happened.

Rather than benching the struggling guard, Jazz coach Quin Snyder gave Clarkson extended minutes in the absence of Donovan Mitchell, including nearly 17 minutes in the second half where the guard truly found his rhythm.

“I’ve taken a couple of guys out, but not Jordan Clark,” Snyder said after the win. “I believe in him.”

Clarkson’s hot hand created open looks for his teammates who rebounded from a poor shooting first half to add 52 points of their own to push the lead to double figures through the majority of the fourth quarter.

“I love this team, I love my teammates, I love this coaching staff, I love this organization,” Clarkson said after snapping the cold streak, “because they all believe in me and believe in what I can do and that’s just beautiful.”

Jordan Clarkson on the @utahjazz after snapping out of his cold streak:

"I love this team, I love my teammates, I love this coaching staff, I love this organization because they all believe in me and believe in what I can do and that's just beautiful."#TakeNote | @utahjazz

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) November 5, 2021

The guard finished the game with 30 points on 10-19 shooting, including 4-10 from the three-point line as the Jazz erased a nine-point Hawks lead and ran away with the blowout 18 point victory.

First Half Struggles Equal Second Half Wins

The Jazz didn’t do much differently in terms of their execution despite seeing two nearly polar opposite performances between the first and second half.

Over the first 24 minutes of the game, the Jazz played stellar defense holding Atlanta to just 17-47 shooting, including 2-16 from the three-point line for a total of 40 points.

However, the Jazz’s own 14-36 shooting performance teamed with 10 turnovers handed the Hawks a 40-39 lead at the break.

Despite the misses, Snyder said he liked the shots the team was getting.

“We felt like we were getting pretty good looks and we weren’t making them,” Snyder said.

Quin Snyder on the @utahjazz win over the @ATLHawks:

"This is one of those games where the bad things were actually the good things."

Mentioned shooting poorly on good looks. Once they started to fall the Jazz offense took off. #TakeNote | @KSLSportspic.twitter.com/JI3yCjYuXo

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) November 5, 2021

In the second half, the team’s strong defense persisted, holding the Hawks to 58 points while forcing eight turnovers but the Jazz shots started to fall.

Even outside of Clarkson’s impressive shooting, the Jazz shot 18-34 (53 percent) with only four turnovers and 14 trips to the free-throw line to erase a nine-point second-half Hawks lead.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 17 points on 5-8 shooting after a six point, 2-8 performance in the first half.

“Our defense was really solid, which allowed us to be in a position where when our offense kicked in, we were right there.”

For the first time this season, the Jazz shot better than 40 percent from the three-point line as a team, continued to show off their improved perimeter defense, and gave the NBA a taste of how high their ceiling truly is.

Jazz Find Playoff Intensity In Regular Season

After an early exit in the playoffs last season, the Jazz have been anything but casual to start the 2021-22 regular season.

Having earned the best record in the NBA last year, it wouldn’t have been a major surprise to see the Jazz open this season with a lackadaisical effort. Instead, the Jazz have burst out of the games with a 7-1 record, the best in the NBA.

Trae Young on Hawks players learning to understand sacrifice in the reg season:

"I’m not gonna lie, it’s a lot more boring than the playoffs, so you’ve gotta find a way to find that motivation and go out & play every night like it’s the playoffs and play like we did last year." pic.twitter.com/OdI91s2k7M

— Sarah K. Spencer (@sarah_k_spence) November 5, 2021

Hawks guard Trae Young who led Atlanta with 21 points discussed the issues facing his team after the game.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s a lot more boring than the playoffs,” Young said after the Hawks surprising Eastern Conference Finals run last season. “So you’ve got to find a way to find that motivation and go out and play every night like it’s the playoffs and play like we did last year.”

The Jazz have not only found a way to match the intensity of the playoffs, they’ve likely improved on it through eight games. As long as they don’t burn themselves out before the end of the season, it’s a promising sign for a better postseason result.

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