Didn’t get to watch the game. Are we just giving up that many open looks or is JB insisting that we run that stupid matchup zone defense still?
Let me guess, the matchup zone defense?
Crazy thing is 19 of them were to 3 bench guys
Pretty good game overall until the 4th quarter happened. Seems like our defense gave up entirely in the blistering Utah run to start the 4th. Guess we’re really living and dying with that zone D no matter what. Oh well 3 more games this week. Hope Gordon’s okay.
I couldn’t catch much of the game, but I don’t think any zone defense did us in during the big run.
Everything you remember about Mike D’Antoni with the Suns and Rockets, and how many 3s they shoot, we now have to understand that this Jazz team is outshooting them. Like way more than the 7 seconds and less squad, and the Harden led 3 paloozas the past few years, or the Steph/Klay/KD splash brothers days. Utah is shooting more, and apparently better than any of them. In the whole history of the NBA.
In fact, Coach Snyder would punish players for not taking a shot. Not taking an open 3, whether pulling up on a fast break, or within the first couples seconds of the shot clock, is actually considered selfish by them.
So, I think for the Jazzpeople, they make it a point to push in transition, with guys running to their spots in the corners and hope to catch teams out of position. Constantly pushing and getting teams in scramble mode is always gonna create hesitation and mismatches, where the half second decisions on whether to switch or stay attached is enough to get space to shoot again.
I guess theoretically you can set your defense up to guard against the 3, but if a team is determined to shoot them, there will always be an opening somewhere. And they are just that damn good at finding the weak spots.
That plus the fact that Joe Ingles apparently doesn’t even need to get set to shoot. He just catches the ball and literally just shoots without adjusting his arms or feet. Its hard to explain, he can just get the ball at his head and start going up right away.
So of course, they set records against us - because this is the way - but they are blitzing everybody, their mama and their cousin too. And I’m actually fine if it works, as this could be a counter to all the superfriends teams that Lebron/AD and KD/Kyrie/Chubby Beardface think can manufacture championships.
Only thing though is will they play this loose and free in the postseason? Outside of Golden State prime, teams that play like this have always struggled when the postseason game slows down and possessions become more valuable and quick shots could end up costing a team much more when the stakes are bigger.
The track record would say no. But what worked for the Warriors (besides having multiple MVPs) was that they were actually really good on defense, so they could shut teams down, then keep blasting away until their shots started falling again. Houston never had a defense, so when their offense got shut down, they kept chucking away until the game got out of hand.
I think Utah is more like Golden State in that they have a pretty good defense with that huge anchor in the middle. And they have 2 guards in Mitchell and Conley (maybe 3 if you include Clarkson this year) that can break guys down off the dribble and create any shot they want. And the pick and roll game with Gobert is still monstrous, as all they have to do is chuck the ball high at the rim where only he can get it. And of course this will start to suck in the D and they would then have open 3 point shots again.
All I know is the Jazz vs. Lakers/Clippers is going to be the most intriguing matchup to me. I just go in knowing the league mandate will push for Lakers vs. Nets this year, unless the Jazz are able to blow it up with their offense.
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It was actually a great game until the end of the third, and I was feeling pretty confident we could pull it out. Outside of Gobert, one big difference between them and us is they more experienced individually and as a unit. I think there are actually a lot of similarities, again Gobert aside. But where Gobert is their advantage, I think we can counter that with a better mid range game, obviously led by GH.
I think in a 7 game series with another couple of months under our belts, we could challenge the Jazz for sure. It would depend on how we take Gobert out of the game and which team had the hottest hands on any given night. Utah is definitely a team to imitate though.
Now whether Utah can be successful in the playoffs, who knows. I think Miami played a somewhat similar style and made it to the finals. It seems like it’s really all about who can hit shots and disrupt the other team the best.