What seemed to be a lost season
for the Utah Jazz has suddenly turned around due to the team’s
recent success, winning 15 of their last 21 games.
After starting just 7-16, the
Jazz have since gone 11-4 and are now in contention for one of the
Western Conference’s play-in spots. They’ve had an incredible week thus far, with
wins over the contending Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks and
Denver Nuggets.
The win over the
defending-champion Nuggets proved that the Jazz can hang with any
team on any given night. Denver was 18-0 against sub-.500 teams entering
the game, but Utah stained their erstwhile unblemished
slate.
How did the Jazz do it? Let’s
take a look at some of the things they did to upend the
Nuggets.
The Jazz stretched the floor
With John Collins starting at
center instead of Walker Kessler, Utah’s game plan was to pull
Nikola Jokic from the paint. Jokic, who’s usually a drop-big on
defense, almost always stays near the shaded area in pick-and-roll
actions. Utah tried to take advantage of this early by hunting out
threes and exploiting the point-of-attack defenses of Jamal Murray
and Michael Porter Jr. Four of their first five attempts were
three-pointers and they connected on two to jump out to an early
lead.
Denver tried to counter by
running zone, leaving Collins open a couple of times in the first
quarter. However, Collins made them pay by hitting two threes, as
Jokic was more than content to leave him open for threes. This
allowed the Jazz to get rolling even more and gave them the freedom
to attack the basket and get downhill.
Another possession in the zone
found Reggie Jackson and Jokic in a miscommunication, leading to
Jordan Clarkson drilling an easy 10-foot jumper. When the Nuggets
tried to switch up their defense back to a man-to-man, the Jazz
found the answer with some off-ball movement and timely cuts to the
rim. Overall, it was an offensive clinic that caught the defending
champs off guard.
The Jazz mixed their coverages on Jokic and gave him
different looks on defense
You can’t entirely stop an
all-world talent like Nikola Jokic, you could only hope to contain
him, which is still really tough considering how talented he is and
his ability to get his teammates involved.
Although he still put up a
monstrous stat line of 27 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists on an
absurd 8-of-9 shooting from the field, what the Jazz and Will Hardy
did was mix-up coverages on him. They showed multiple defensive
looks each time down, which partly confused Jokic as he committed 6
turnovers in the game.
Sometimes, it was single
coverage; other times, they sent doubles at him. Three different
players — Lauri Markannen, Collins and Kessler — each took turns
guarding him and all three provided different looks on the Joker.
Markannen used his strength, Collins had his quickness and quick
hands, while Kessler provided verticality with his 7-foot-1
frame.
The Jazz also sent different
doubles at Jokic, sometimes crowding him in the paint with early
double-teams, breaking up his low-post attacks with guards doubling
him, and sending late doubles with another big or using a help
weakside defender to try to affect him as he attempted a
shot.
All of these defensive coverages
were designed to make Jokic feel uncomfortable with different
styles thrown at him, and the Jazz were successful at that with
this blowout win.
Will Hardy figured out the rotations and had the Jazz
playing with confidence
Although their defense is still
suspect, the Jazz’s offense has been nothing but spectacular. This
can be attributed to head coach Will Hardy figuring out his
rotation and which players synergize well together. This impressive
run over their last 20 games started when Hardy made Kris Dunn,
Collin Sexton, Simone Fontecchio, Lauri Markannen and John Collins
the starting five. Off the bench, Jordan Clarkson and Kelly Olynyk
provide stability as veterans while second-year guys Walker Kessler
and Ochai Agbaji help out on defense with their length and
tenacity.
Utah’s offense was on full
display against Denver, picking them apart with set plays and off
of read-and-react actions. Although the Nuggets were coming off two
days of rest and just an hour flight, the Jazz capitalized on their
momentum and pounced right from the start.
Markannen has picked up right
where he left off in last season’s All-Star campaign, maintaining
his shooting and scoring while improving his ball-handling this
season. He’s much better off the dribble now, which makes him one
of the most coveted (if not most coveted) trade targets as the Feb.
8 deadline approaches.
Clarkson has also learned to
move the ball more since being back to his regular sixth man role
while continuing to score the ball effectively, and it has produced
good results.
Dunn and Sexton allow the Jazz
to play with pace and energy on both sides of the floor and their
efforts are infectious.
Despite all of the trade rumors
swirling around this team and rival teams trying to pry their
players away, GM Danny Ainge and coach Will Hardy deserve credit
for helping the Jazz build good habits and play the right way,
which has resulted in beautiful basketball all
around.
