As the Jazz have lost three consecutive games to teeter on the brink of elimination against the Los Angeles Clippers, one worrying trend has been the come-and-go nature of the Jazz’s offense.
It hasn’t gotten worse than the 13-point first quarter in Game 4 — it’s hard to be worse than that, quite frankly — but the 18-point quarters in Game 1 and 5 either got them out to big early deficits or torpedoed the early lead they held.
That’s, in short, because the Jazz’s offense has changed.
You can see it in the Jazz’s drive numbers. During the regular season, the Jazz, despite the 3-point reputation, also drove the ball into the paint quite frequently — 53.2 times per game, according to NBA tracking stats, or 4th in the NBA. Sometimes, that resulted in layups for Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, Jordan Clarkson, or Joe Ingles. But there are also indirect benefits of the drives, too: kick-out passes for the Jazz’s 3-point shooters, or lobs to Rudy Gobert.
In this series, though, they’re driving 10 times fewer per game: 43.6, if you’re curious about the exact number. Mitchell’s bum ankle, Conley’s absence, and the Clippers’ switching defense are all keeping the Jazz out of the paint.
It’s changed the Jazz’s shot chart, to be sure. Rather than the 25.8 pull-up shots per game that they took during the regular season, they’re now taking 33 pull-up shots during the Clippers series. Only Brooklyn has taken more pull-ups during the playoffs, but the Jazz don’t have talents like Kyrie Irving, James Harden, or Kevin Durant.
Pull-ups are typically considered harder shots than their catch-and-shoot equivalents. That being said, the Jazz have been making a lot of those pull-up shots against the Clippers. They’re shooting 44% on the pull-up threes, for example, an excellent percentage. Maybe an unsustainable one.
But not getting into the paint has made the Jazz’s offense reliant on those pull-up shots, which can wax and wane more than, say, Gobert lob finishes at the rim. And never was that more on display in Game 5 — after one of the hottest shooting performances the NBA has ever seen in the first half of the game, the Jazz then missed their next 16 3-pointers.
So, the question: how can the Jazz get into the paint more?
Step 1: take advantage of the defensive attention being paid to Mitchell.
“Whether it’s when they come trap him off the ball or in pick and roll, he’s been able to get off the ball,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said. “We have to attack in those situations.”
That was something that the Jazz did inconsistently in Game 5. Mitchell’s teammates — and especially Ingles and Royce O’Neale — were sometimes reluctant to attack the space afforded to them by their superstar teammates. Attacking can mean driving, but it can also just mean taking the open shots available.
“As much as anything, guys have to be really ready to shoot the ball. It may not be that the ball touched the paint if there’s an open look early,” Snyder said. “But ideally, if there isn’t, you know, we can make a quick decision and drive the ball.”
Without Mitchell on the court, the formula gets more complicated. That’s when transition play, or taking advantage of Jordan Clarkson’s isolation ability, becomes the Jazz’s No. 1 source of offense — Ingles’ pick-and-roll play is really nearly mostly eliminated against switches.
And then, of course, Mitchell can drive anyway sometimes. Even on one leg, even despite the help.
No matter what, Snyder says the Jazz need to stay “under control” when making these drives. Take one play in the fourth quarter: Mitchell attacked, drew a ton of help, but managed to stay in control, even balancing on his tip-toes as he found the open pass. He does, and Ingles gets the open shot.
Ingles missed — that’s how the NBA goes sometimes. But that’s the formula that the Jazz will have to rely on: an eye-wide-open attack to collapse the defense, draw help, and take advantage.
Now, their playoff lives rely on it.
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