Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 115-112 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans from Salt Lake Tribune beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Jazz fall apart down the stretch
The Jazz had a 14-point lead with 8 minutes left, and then the Pelicans went on a 22-2 run to win the game. Ouch. Then, the Jazz countered with a 7-0 run to take the lead back, but didn’t close it out. Double ouch.
Where do we assign the blame? Well, it turns out everyone was at fault. I mean, maybe Kyle Korver is blameless: he missed an open 3 in the stretch, but players miss open threes sometimes. Even Korver.
But everyone else who played will have something to watch tomorrow. Thabo Sefolosha lost Darius Miller in pick and roll, then once he was screened, didn’t get back into the play, meaning there was an easy NOP layup. Derrick Favors committed a foul against Julius Randle, then didn’t see to attempt to contest the shot attempt afterwards, leading to an and-one.
As for those who finished the game, Jae Crowder lost Miller on an off-ball screen, giving Miller an open three. Ricky Rubio missed an undefended 9-foot jumper, then inexplicably jumped towards Elfrid Payton on the ensuing possession, getting himself all off-balance and letting Payton drive by him for an easy layup.
Joe Ingles had several key turnovers: one he missed Rudy Gobert on a lob pass (should Gobert have been there? Maybe.), one he just got stripped by Jrue Holiday, and one he had an open layup but decided to flick it behind Gobert anyway.
Rudy Gobert didn’t box out on a free-throw, allowing Kenrich Williams to get the ball, called for a lob pass that Mitchell hit him in the hands with that he didn’t catch, didn’t close out on a Williams’ 3-pointer, let Randle spin back to his left for a layup, and then came down the court and tried an ugly scoop layup that was so easily blocked.
Donovan Mitchell had two turnovers of his own, a bounce-pass that got picked off with four minutes left, then a charge committed about 30 seconds later. And there’s the final play of the game, where Mitchell let the clock run down too late, then forced himself into a contested, double-pump-fake shot to try to win it.
Heck, you can even criticize Quin Snyder’s coaching. I would have liked to see Korver out there to finish the game, and given how Favors was finishing in the pick-and-roll with Ingles, there was a case for him to finish the game too. But most of all, Snyder should have called a timeout once the final play devolved into isoball with Mitchell and Holiday, one of the best defenders in the league.
“In hindsight, I should have called a timeout. I thought he had an advantage in the full court," Snyder said. "As the possession evolved, where he wasn’t able to attack right away, that one’s on me. That could have been a timeout, reset, and get a look.”
All eight of those men had stronger points in the game, all contributed to the Jazz having that 14-point lead in the first place. And perhaps one fewer mistake from any one of them would have let the Jazz win it anyway. But New Orleans capitalized on everything, made their shots, and stole a win.
2. Defense not good enough
But as frustrated as the Jazz were about how they ended the game, they were pretty upset with what they did before that too. The scoreboard may have flattered the Jazz before that point.
“On defense, from the beginning of the game, I feel like we didn’t have enough energy,” Gobert said. “We scored 112 points tonight... we scored, and have scored more, but we don’t want to play the all-scoring game, that’s not who we are. We just got to play defense and from the beginning.” The Jazz’s defensive rating is even less flattering: 118.6.
Elfrid Payton gets a layup here, from just blowing by Rubio. That’s obviously not good enough, but Favors should probably be there to help in that space, and if not him, Gobert’s rim-protecting response is to take a menacing step towards Payton, and then not make an effort to stop the play.
Or this play. Jrue Holiday is a talented scorer who isn’t afraid to take open shots. Mitchell gets caught on the screen, so Sefolosha comes up to stop the shot. Why does he then back off before Mitchell’s able to recover?
That last play should inform your viewing of this next one: you know that Mitchell was trying to go over the top on that screen. So why does Royce O’Neale try to go under the screen on this play, giving Holiday the space to shoot?
You can see Snyder raise his hands on the bench, I think in confusion, over O’Neale’s decision.
“We were playing with fire. We knew that. Kyle came out and said it. We knew we were playing with fire," Mitchell said. "You play with fire, you get burned.”
Pyromania doesn’t suit the Jazz.
3. Jazz passing was good
It’s unfortunate the turnovers piled up in the fourth, because before that, the Jazz were playing some beautiful offensive basketball, with great passing and clever playcalling.
I don’t know if this was a playcall by Snyder knowing the Pellies’ defense wasn’t afraid to leave Crowder, or just a missed communication, but either way, it’s a great lob pass from Ingles to Crowder.
And this little setup for Korver, where he sets a screen and then plays “Ring around the Rosie” with his defender around a Favors screen is fun.
The Jazz had 35 assists tonight. Teams with 35 assists or more are now 53-10 on the season in the NBA. In case you didn’t feel this way already, the Jazz really, really should have won this one.
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