So, that was ugly.
Ahead of the opening bout in their first-round playoff series with the Houston Rockets, the national hoops intelligentsia was completely devoid of pundits giving the Utah Jazz a real chance to compete. And through their 48 minutes of postseason play, Donovan Mitchell and his crew did little to dissuade that thought process.
Utah ultimately dropped Game 1 by 32 points, got steamrolled in the final carom — even when James Harden was on the bench — and were minus-20 in the paint, a number that should never happen with Rudy Gobert manning the post.