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Nobody in Utah’s locker room was worried about Jordan Clarkson’s struggles.
When discussed amongst them, they all knew it was just a matter of time before the reigning sixth man of the year broke out of an early-season slump.
It turns out that time was Thursday night.
Clarkson caught fire in the second half, finishing with a season-high 30 points as Utah went on the road and beat Atlanta 116-98.
first half? we don’t know her.#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/pj7PnffW4s
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 5, 2021
“In my mind, I just try to continue to be myself,” Clarkson said postgame. “My teammates, all the way down the line to the coaches, the owner, all of them coming up to me and saying ‘JC keep shooting.’ Don (Mitchell) before the game telling me, ‘Bro, it’s going to happen, when you start hitting, it’s going to keep falling.’… Hats off to them.”
Much like everyone else in the locker room, Clarkson knew he would break out of his slump at some point. It’s not as if he was getting bad looks, there just appeared to be an invisible lid on the rim whenever the ball left his hands.
That lid disappeared in the second half.
Clarkson scored 25 points in the final 24 minutes of action. He finished 10-of-19 from the field and 4-of-10 from three-point territory, adding four rebounds and three assists for good measure.
Once he saw that first three drop early in the third quarter, Clarkson put his hands in a prayer position and gave a quick look up towards the rafters, thankful for ending his streak of consecutive misses from beyond the arc.
#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/hhIX6d4Azw
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 5, 2021
He finished with 15 points in the third quarter alone, single-handedly keeping the shorthanded Jazz in the game. He added 10 more in the fourth as Utah blew past Atlanta and dropped 41 points in the final 12 minutes.
“Obviously with JC, we know how aggressive he is coming off the bench, and you expect him to do that every night,” Joe Ingles said. “I think as a team, you’re trying to go out of your way to make it easier for him. … Happy he was able to be aggressive. It was a good game for him.”
| A JC performance tonight in ATL #TakeNote | @ZionsBank pic.twitter.com/HbXU1LrWtp
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 5, 2021
What made Thursday’s performance all the more impressive is that it came with Donovan Mitchell on the sideline. Mitchell, who traveled with the team, missed the game with a right ankle sprain suffered two nights ago against Sacramento.
While the Jazz exploded for 77 second half points, the first and second quarters left a lot desired.
Utah was held to 15 points in the first before finding itself trailing 40-39 at the break.
If not for the play of Ingles — starting in Mitchell’s place — it would’ve been much worse for the Jazz.
Much like Clarkson did in the second half, Ingles kept Utah alive in the opening 24 minutes after finishing with 13 points, four rebounds, and two assists. His three three-pointers almost all came at crucial times when it looked as if the Hawks were going to pull away.
“I’m going to take good shots within our team and in our system. … That’s just how I’m going to play,” Ingles said. “For me, when I’m taking the shots I want to take, the ones the team wants me to take, I feel confident I’m going to make them.”
What makes the Jazz unique is that when the offense is struggling like it was, their defense could keep them in the game.
Utah held Atlanta to 36.2% from the floor and 12.5% from beyond the arc in the first half, outrebounding the Hawks 29-19. During that stretch, Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside were impressive, combining for seven points, 13 rebounds, and two blocked shots.
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 4, 2021
“I thought our defense was really solid, which allowed us to be in a position so when our offense kicked in, we were right there,” head coach Quin Snyder said. “I think it’s one of those games where the bad things are actually the good things. … We felt like we were getting pretty good looks, but we weren’t making them.”
Both teams found their offensive games in the third quarter as Utah led 75-74 going into the fourth.
Following a quick Lou Williams bucket for the Hawks on the quarter’s opening possession, the Jazz took off and found a great rhythm the rest of the way.
Mike Conley (13 points, 11 assists) got it started with a steal and found a cutting Clarkson for a dunk, igniting a 12-2 run as the Jazz outscored the Hawks by 17 in the final quarter.
Jordan: 30p | 4 3pm
Bojan: 23p | 5r
Joe: 19p | 5-6 3pm
Mike: 13p | 11a
Rudy: 15r | 13p#podiumpostgame | @podiumhq pic.twitter.com/ChDkWXiJln— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 5, 2021
Bojan Bogdanovic finished with 23 points and five rebounds, while Gobert added his seventh double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Ingles finished with 19 points, while Royce O’Neale added nine points, six rebounds, and six assists.
Utah’s defense held the high-scoring Trae Young to just 20 points on 8-of-20 shooting (0-for-4) from deep. Clint Capela added 13 points and 10 rebounds while De’Andre Hunter and John Collins finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
The Jazz have Friday off before continuing their road trip with a game against Miami in South Beach on Saturday night. It’s a battle between the two teams with the best record in the NBA, with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m. MST.
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