After an exciting season, Gordon Hayward and the Utah Jazz had their playoff hopes dashed before their final game against the Los Angeles Lakers even tipped off.
Earlier in the night, the Houston Rockets pummeled the Sacramento Kings by 30-plus points to knock Hayward and Co. out of playoff contention. However, despite the outcome of the Rockets-Kings game, Gordon wanted to make sure he and his teammates went into their showdown against Kobe Bryant focused on what they could control.
“Just win. We can’t be worried about anything else. There’s going to be a lot of hoopla, a lot of energy in the building for sure,” Hayward said before a wild Wednesday night. “Respect to Kobe Bryant and the fact that it’s his last game, but we’ve got to win.”
Unfortunately, the hoopla won out. In the 101-96 win for the Lakers, Kobe went off for 60 points and put on one final show for the Staples Center crowd all night long. G-Time was tasked with guarding Kobe in his final game, but with Utah’s fate already determined and L.A.’s desire to get its superstar as many looks as possible, it wasn’t surprising to see No. 24 have such a historic finale.
The game started off cold for G, who didn’t register a point in the opening frame. It went back and forth for the majority for the period but thanks to a 7-0 run to close out the quarter, Utah led 21-19 going into the second.
Hayward’s first field goal of the contest came with about few minutes left in the first half when he drained his attempt from downtown to give the Jazz a 46-37 edge. On the ensuing possession, G-time’s fadeaway jumper put his squad up by 11 with 2:57 to play before halftime.
At the half the Jazz were up 57-42, but Kobe and the Lakers came out strong in the third and started chipping away at the deficit. Hayward’s triple gave the Jazz a 62-50 edge midway through the frame before Kobe responded with back-to-back buckets. Gordon scored on the following possession for Utah on a running layup to make it an eight-point game.
“It was cool for us to go against each other like that,” Hayward said. “I was just competing, and the comments that he made were definitely nice.”
Going into the fourth the Jazz held a nine-point advantage as they anxiously waited to see what Kobe would do in his final 12 minutes. Hayward converted on a driving layup and running slam for Utah in back-to-back possessions to make it a 91-84 game with 4:18 to play before Kobe took over down the stretch.
Bryant impressively went to on score 15 of the Lakers final 17 points to propel Los Angeles over the Jazz. G20 also made a classy gesture late in the game when he stepped in the box on Kobe’s free throw attempt so in case of a miss, No. 24 would get another chance to reach the 60-point mark. It didn’t end up mattering though as the freebie was good anyway.
“You knew it was going to be his night when he came out firing,” Gordon said. “He hit some tough shots there in the first quarter and had like 15 or something. I think we probably got caught up a little bit in the moment and everything that happened. I think we had like an eight- or 10-point lead there at the end of the game and just didn’t play well down the stretch.”
After an up-and-down campaign, G-Time still thinks there are many positives to take away from his team’s season. The experience gained over the course of this rollercoaster season is extremely valuable in Hayward’s opinion, and he maintains that his group will use that experience to come back next year much-improved.
“I think just based off the experiences we’ve all gained individually and collectively as a team, we’ve been in a lot of big moments,” Hayward said. “Forty wins is definitely a step up from two years ago when we had 20-whatever, so I think we’re trending in the right way.”
Quin Snyder was on the same page as Gordon and recognized the positive aspects of the season even though it was admittedly difficult after such a disappointing end to season.
“This has been a very positive season. It may not feel like that right now because we lost a game to Dallas and obviously the game had huge implications,” Snyder said. “The fact that this group was in that game in and of itself to me is an accomplishment and the fact that we were able to compete down the stretch to put ourselves in that game is a positive.”
Falling two wins short of their first playoff berth since 2012 will be tough to look back on this offseason with all the opportunities they had, but Hayward and Co. are still confident that they have a young core of guys who will continue to grow together as the Jazz gear up for the 2016-17 season and beyond.
RELATED LINKS
- Kobe scores 60 in unbelievable farewell victory (AP, Apr. 14, 2016)
- Game Book: Jazz at Lakers (NBA, Apr. 13, 2016)
- Jazz honored to be part of Kobe’s grand finale (Deseret News, Apr. 13, 2016)
- 60! Kobe goes out with 60 points in finale (Sports Xchange, Apr. 14, 2016)
- Kobe Bryant delivers one final blow to Jazz in Lakers win (Deseret News, Apr. 14, 2016)
- Kobe Bryant scores 60 points in final game as Jazz beat Lakers (Salt Lake Tribune, Apr. 13, 2016)
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