AP
Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder talks with guard Donovan Mitchell (45) and guard Raul Neto (25) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
INDIANAPOLIS — Utah Jazz players needed a moment to gather themselves in the visitors locker room of Bankers Life Fieldhouse before life emerged in there.
After suffering a 121-94 loss to the Indiana Pacers on the last stop of a five-game road trip, they needed to ponder on what just happened, as the room was silent.
“I’m ready,” Jazz star Donovan Mitchell finally signaled to media, after soaking his feet in a bucket of ice.
Mitchell ended with a season-low seven points on 3-for-8 shooting with just a single assist and rebound, but pointed toward the team defense, energy and lack of effort as the root of the recent struggles.
“That shouldn’t be a problem, shouldn’t be a thought,” Mitchell said of the five-game road trip. “We should bring it every night. There shouldn’t be times when we’re up, then we’re down, but that was pretty much the theme of this whole road trip. We’ll get back on track.”
Utah wrapped up the latest road trip with a 2-3 record after wins against Memphis and Boston but suffered a 50-point loss to Dallas, a 113-107 loss in Philadelphia and now a 27-point loss Indiana, without Pacers All-Star guard Victor Oladipo who was sidelined with a sore right knee.
The Jazz have already played more road games than any other NBA team so far this season, going 6-5 away from home and 8-9 overall.
“I was just talking to the guys, I don’t want to overreact because it’s still early but at the same time, you’re going to lose in this league, but you can’t keep getting your (expletive) kicked like that,” said Jazz forward Jae Crowder. “That’s a (expletive) whooping and I feel like it sends a message to the whole league.
“We need to be in every game, I think we got the team to be in every game, no matter who is on the court and when you get beat like this it sends a statement,” he added. “At least we’re aware of it now and hopefully we’ll get better as the time goes on, but it’s something we are aware of.”
Once the 2018-19 schedule was released, one of the first things that jumped out was that 21 of Utah’s first 33 games were being held outside of Vivint Arena — including a Dec. 15 matchup against Orlando in a neutral Mexican location.
Last year, Utah also started 19-28 before winning 29 of its last 35 games in one of the greatest turnarounds in league history. However, the Jazz were plagued with injuries during that start while this year’s bunch seems to lack effort and intensity at times.
Utah holds the NBA’s third-worst free-throw percentage (71.0), ranks No. 15 in defensive rating (108.5) after finishing first in 2017-18; Mitchell ranks in the top 25 of individual scorers (20.7), with the lowest field goal percentage of that group (41.2).
“People talk about fatigue, but I think it’s a mindset,” said Jazz center Rudy Gobert. “Some nights you’re not going to have as much juice as some other nights, but you’ve got to bring it and focus on the right thing.”
The Jazz will return home for a Wednesday night game versus the Sacramento Kings before taking off to Los Angeles and Sacramento again on Friday and Sunday.
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Jazz coach Quin Snyder’s observations from the Pacers loss were to play with more force and precision offensively, while crashing the boards, finishing defensive possessions and limiting turnovers. Playing home or away, those are things they can control.
“We need to have more urgency and more mental toughness to go out and do it,” Snyder said. “You dig in. I think communication is probably the biggest thing.
“When someone’s not alert or aware or urgent on a given possession, we need to make sure we’re talking to each other and that has a tendency to throw you into the game.”
