Portland Trail Blazers guard Keon Johnson, center, drive to the basket on Utah Jazz forward Danuel House Jr., left, and forward Royce O’Neale, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Sunday, April 10, 2022. (Steve Dykes, Associated Press)
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SALT LAKE CITY — It took until Game 82, but the Jazz finally know their playoff fate.
With a 111-80 win over Portland at Moda Center on Sunday, the Jazz clinched the fifth seed in the Western Conference and will open the playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks next weekend.
Dallas and Utah split their season series with both teams holding serve at home. Game 1 will be on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Dallas; the rest of the schedule has yet to be released.
For weeks, the Jazz have said they didn’t care about seeding; their focus was on figuring out their own issues before the playoffs.
But what happens when the team has at least a bit of control over who they are playing in the first round?
Well, we might have seen the answer Sunday night in Portland.
With three other games’ start times playing a role in who Utah would face in the first round, it did appear the Jazz eased their way into the game.
Utah had 16 points in the first quarter and missed its first 17 3-point attempts. That could have been a coincidence or it could have been the Jazz waiting to see what happened elsewhere.
By the time the third quarter rolled around, though, things had cleared up. The Golden State Warriors were up big against the New Orleans Pelicans and the Mavericks had a sizable lead against San Antonio.
That meant Golden State was going to be the third seed and Dallas the fourth, leaving Utah a chance to pick its opening opponent. A win would mean the Mavericks; a loss (coupled with a Nuggets win) meant the Warriors.
Whatever the case, the Jazz turned it on in the second half. Utah outscored Portland 26-16 in the third quarter and dominated the fourth quarter to push the lead to 30 and beyond against a Blazers squad that stopped trying to win long ago.
Juancho Hernangomez led Utah with 22 points, and Rudy Gobert had 18 points and 13 rebounds.
The Jazz finished the season with a 49-33 record.
This story will be updated.
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Ryan Miller has covered the Utah Jazz for KSL.com since 2018.
