Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 130-116 win over the Los Angeles Lakers from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Offensive genius again from the Jazz
Against a team with Anthony Davis and LeBron James, you shouldn’t be able to shoot make 24 of 27 shots at the rim. You shouldn’t be able to collect a third of your missed shots from elsewhere as offensive rebounds. You shouldn’t be able to absolutely dominate in transition, with a 172 offensive rating over the course of the whole game. You shouldn’t be able to keep such control over the ball to get only eight turnovers all game long, with those two athletic freaks being out on the court.
The Jazz did all that anyway.
Once again, the Jazz played absolutely scintillating, beautiful offense, scored 130 points against what was previously the 3rd-best defense in the league, and won a game in the Arena Formerly Known As Staples Center with relative ease.
They’re doing it through just playing off each other brilliantly. Over and over, they just play to give themselves as many options as possible, then picking the right one.
They had 31 assists, and with plays like this, you see why:
The Jazz have a screen option on the strong side of the court, Markkanen has a screen option on the weak side, and they instead choose to go through Door No. 3: Markkanen just flashes to the paint, has LeBron beat, and gets an easy two.
Here: they sprint down the court, force a mismatch. Sexton pitches the ball to Olynyk 30 feet from the basket, but instead of just getting it back to a ballhandler at the top of the key, he finds Conley, immediately runs a quick pick and roll, and gets the ball back for an easy layup.
By the way, look at what Jarred Vanderbilt is doing here: he’s wandering to the free-throw line, so if this doesn’t work, they can immediately get another screen look for Sexton.
One last example. Look at all that’s going on in this play:
Conley gives the ball to Olynyk, then fake cuts, does some split-action stuff with Markkanen, Markkanen cuts, Conley gets the ball, draws the switch, Walker Kessler relocates, Olynyk spins, draws help, Kessler seals Davis, Sexton tells Olynyk to pass to Markkanen while relocating to the top to draw Lonnie Walker, Olynyk dribbles to get the passing angle, finds Markkanen for a corner 3.
I mean, what? I’m out of breath — and I’m typing. And all that takes is nine seconds?
I give Will Hardy a lot of credit, but honestly: it’s the players on the floor making this happen. This is just next-level quick decision-making basketball from Conley, Markkanen, and Olynyk in particular, working in harmony to get buckets.
It truly is beautiful.
2. Lauri Markkanen’s defense
As impressive as Markkanen’s been offensively, I’ve been more surprised at his defense, both inside and out. He wasn’t really known as a defensive difference maker coming to the Jazz, but he’s been great since arriving.
Tonight, he had defensive matchups against LeBron and AD ... and I thought got the better of most of those opportunities. The Lakers kept feeding those two stars in the post, and Markkanen forced them into fadeaway shots over his 7-foot length every time.
(OK, in that last one, Olynyk fouled him on the putback ... but Markkanen played defense to get the block in the first place.)
I asked Hardy about what he liked best about Markkanen’s defense.
“He understands how to use his size and athleticism. He ‘spaces’ guys really well. I thought there was one in the fourth quarter close out on Troy Brown in the corner where he just understood how much space to give Troy Brown and he caught his drive on the first dribble, forced him into a step back.”
More Hardy: “Those are those are hard positions to be in, especially when you’re a taller, bigger player being out on the perimeter. It can feel a little uncomfortable defensively at times, but he just knows how to use his length. He has good foot speed for his size for sure. And when you couple that with his ability to think and space his opponents properly he’s a tough guy to get around.”
3. Team composition in the NBA
So ... I sort of think the “Big 3″ era might really be over?
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh really started the trend of having three great players join up via trade and free agency to chase a championship together. And it worked: they won two titles together.
Every other team that’s done it since hasn’t been anywhere close to as successful.
Right now, the Lakers — with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook — are pretty awful at basketball. The Brooklyn Nets — with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons — are a complete mess on and off the court.
There are other more minor examples. You don’t think of the Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tobias Harris Sixers as a “Big 3″ — but Harris has the biggest contract on that roster. They’re 4-5. Chicago’s Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic are all lower-tier All-Stars, but they’re also extremely mid.
Who is having success? Well, the Golden State Warriors won the championship last year, but with three stars they drafted and a great acquisition in Andrew Wiggins. The Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, with homegrown stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Devin Booker next to key trade acquisitions like Jrue Holiday and Chris Paul. The Memphis Grizzlies and Boston Celtics, with their own homegrown stars leading nearly all of the charge.
In the end, it’s just really, really hard to give 90%-105% of your salary cap to three players — and especially if you have to give up assets to acquire those players. The Lakers are bone-dry bare right now, save for LeBron and AD, and have only limited resources to get better. They’re stuck, and all because the Big 3 are taking up too much of the pie themselves.
Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
Follow @andyblarsen