This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Joe Ingles may be leading the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage, but it was a missed bucket that pleased his coach most last week.
With the game on the line against the Los Angeles Lakers, it was Ingles who asked to defend Lou Williams. Even a year ago, it might have been a request Quin Snyder would have ignored.
"He's gotten better, defensively," the Jazz coach said. "I used to give him a hard time just because he'd switch everything. There's much less of that now. He's more disciplined in what we want and more focused."
Williams, as has been the case with other quick guards this season, had given the Jazz's perimeter defenders trouble. But the 6-foot-8 Ingles was able to use his length to force Williams into a tough shot, and a miss, to help the Jazz escape with a victory.
"We've spoken about me being more consistent," Ingles said of his conversations with Snyder. "I think I've showed patches of being a good defender and then I've kind of got lazy, or whatever it is, off the ball and you make a stupid play and you look like you can't guard anybody. I just try to focus on that every play."
"At the end of the day," he added, "if I can keep playing defense, I can stay on the floor."
Road map
Suns coach Earl Watson feels like his young team is in the early days of a rebuilding process — and the former Jazzman likes the model his old team has created in its own rebuild.
"It's a great mix of veterans, middle of the road and kind of later in their career," he said. "They did a great job … figuring out who should be here moving forward. They've made a lot of difficult decisions and they brought in guys that can take them over the hump. And in return, you've got guys like Gordon Hayward who now feels like the pressure of the world isn't just on his shoulders. He's got guys he can depend on, leverage on, that can get him through tough times and can make him a better player to be honest with you."
Injury report
Jazz point guard Dante Exum missed his fifth straight game as he deals with tendinitis in his surgically repaired left knee.
Shooting guard Alec Burks was also held out Saturday night against the Phoenix Suns. Burks, however, is inching closer to making his season debut and is expected to at least travel with the team on its upcoming five-game road trip.
Twitter: @aaronfalk