The Jazz had given up a large lead and were trailing Memphis by four points deep into the third quarter Friday night. Coming in the wake of a bad loss to Boston, one that general manager Dennis Lindsey called “painful,” it was a dire situation in a game they could not lose, not if they had serious intentions of making the playoffs.
The Jazz went ahead and cut those nuts, a phrase that sounds different, more crass than its actual origins. It refers to the significant moment when the cutting off or away of nuts from bolts that have been immobilized by rust to the point where there is no other way to remove them is necessary.