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Memphis, Tenn. • When Quin Snyder took over as the head coach of the Utah Jazz, he did so with some very specific things in mind in terms of style of play.

One of the main initiatives? Become more of a modern NBA offense. That meant shooting more 3-pointers.

Partly because of personnel, and partly because of pace of play, that didn't come into fruition as much in the last two years. But this season, the Jazz have been chucking away from beyond the arc. They've been making plenty, too.

"I think it's been a mindset," Utah small forward Gordon Hayward said. "Coach has been telling us to take our shots. Rudy [Gobert] has been a dynamic roller in the paint, and when you have someone coming down the middle like that, defenses have to respect that. And that gives us open shots from the perimeter. We've been screening better, too, and that's been getting guys open for shots as well."

The Jazz currently take 26.4 shots from 3-point range, which ranks them 11th in the NBA. That's a significant jump from last season, when they took 23.9 3-pointers a night. More encouraging to Snyder and the Jazz: They are making 36.8 percent of their threes, which is seventh in the league. Last season, they made 35.5 percent from beyond the arc.

With Derrick Favors hurt for much of the season, the Jazz have had to play differently than they have in the past. And without Favors, the Jazz have gone much of the season with three-wing alignments and a point guard on the floor around Gobert.

That's created more looks from the perimeter. And there's been internal improvement as well, such as Joe Ingles developing into the best statistical 3-point shooter in the league.

The shooting overall counters Utah's pace of play, which remains one of the slowest in the league. And it's produced one of the better overall offenses in the league, heading into Sunday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

"I think we have a lot of guys who can shoot the ball, and we have a lot of guys who are playing unselfishly," Jazz guard Rodney Hood said. "The ball is finding the open man, and guys are shooting the ball with confidence, that's the biggest thing. Coach has been stressing that he wants to get up a lot of threes. We have to continue to break the paint. Do that and everything opens up."

Continuing progress

Alec Burks and George Hill didn't play on Sunday night in Memphis against the Grizzlies. Both, however, traveled with the team, and went through pregame individual warmups. Burks, recovering from ankle surgery, even dunked at the conclusion of his workout.

A benchmark

The Jazz scored 34 first half points on Sunday, a low for the season. Their previous low was 35 points at the Los Angeles Clippers.

tjones@sltrib.com twitter: @tribjazz