The Jazz were embarrassed by the Lakers on national TV and they deserved it
LOS ANGELES — After the Utah Jazz’s double-overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, I called the game a moral victory for the Jazz and wrote about the good rather than much of the bad, because I felt it was deserved.
I can not do that tonight.
In the Jazz’s final group stage game of the in-season tournament they were blown out, 131-99, by the Los Angeles Lakers on national television and they deserved it.
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The Jazz played bad basketball and they paid for it. They were soft on both sides of the ball, sloppy on offense, sleepy on defense and never really put up much of a fight in a game that was kind of a big deal.
Even if you don’t care about the Jazz’s in-season tournament chances and you put it out of your mind that there was money on the line for the Jazz in Tuesday night’s game, it’s certainly a game that will matter in the Western Conference standings. The game was broadcast on TNT and that’s the last game the Jazz have on either TNT or ESPN for the rest of the season.
This will the the last time that most of the NBA’s national audience will see the Jazz for the rest of the NBA calendar. What will they remember?
Defense
Miscommunication and falling asleep against Anthony Davis certainly isn’t going to leave a good impression on anyone who might have been watching the Jazz for the first time this season. And no one is going to be lining up to watch the Jazz if they remember how little the trio of John Collins, Lauri Markkanen and Kelly Olynyk did against Davis and LeBron James.
Of course, the arguments could be made that there are very few players who are able to stop the likes of James and Davis and the fact that the Jazz are playing without their main rim protector really changes things.
Those are fair points, but that doesn’t excuse the lack of effort on the defensive end from just about everyone on the Jazz roster.
It should not be this easy for anyone to score against any NBA team:
The Jazz really just left the door open for AD, over and over and over. pic.twitter.com/unNGAuvghW
— Sarah Todd (@NBASarah) November 22, 2023
“Every player on our team needs to give us 10-to-15% more defensively,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “For us to be a good defense, despite whatever physical limitations we might have in certain matchups from a size standpoint, we have to make up for it with maximum effort. We can’t afford to coast on the defensive end.”
Offense
The Jazz have two really bad habits on the offensive end that need to be broken.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Maybe someone should write this on the whiteboard inside the Jazz locker room.
The Jazz have a real tendency to go away from what is working and then get stuck doing what is not working and then getting angry when it continues to not work. Often this happens in isolation.
The other bad habit the Jazz have is expecting foul calls and bailing out early on drives, shot attempts and offensive moves because they are relying on the officials to play the game for them.
Good players will play for the score and hope to get the call that goes along with it so long as they play through physicality with strength and intention. The Jazz players don’t want to become a team that plays for the foul because that is a losing game. Strength and effort are always a better answer.
Silver linings?
“I think the the biggest positive for me right now is that we get to play again tomorrow and hopefully eliminate this from our brain,” Hardy said following the game.
The Jazz will be on the second night of a back-to-back set on Wednesday night in Portland against the Trail Blazers and can hopefully come away from that one feeling a little better than they did on Tuesday night, but it doesn’t change the fact that they have to address the reasons behind what happened.
“We know that’s not us,” Markkanen said. “That’s not how we want to play.”
Great. Prove it.
