Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 122-91 win over the Houston Rockets from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Are the Jazz deeper this year?
The Jazz had seven players in double-figures tonight — but only three of those were starters.
More important than individual points on the scoreboard is how the Jazz are performing when their depth pieces are out there. And once again, it’s been brilliant: the Jazz outscored the Rockets by 21 in the 16 minutes when Hassan Whiteside was on the floor, for example.
We love Derrick Favors. But Derrick Favors isn’t doing this, not in 2021.
Georges Niang doesn’t have the mass to move the boxout towards the hoop like this, then kick it out to Joe Ingles for three.
(By the way, Ingles said after the game that he hesitated not because of Paschall running towards him, but because he thought a defender was running up behind him. Maybe poor vision in his third eye is why Ingles turns down so many open looks.)
Eric Paschall has truly been excellent so far, fitting into the Jazz’s ball-movement ethos more fluidly than any other new Jazzman I can remember. He’s making a real claim to staying in the rotation.
Jared Butler’s not really replacing anyone (Matt Thomas, maybe?) on the roster, but he fit into the system much better today, looking to move the ball and doing it well.
Oh, and then there’s Rudy Gay, just looming on the bench right now. The Jazz gush about what he’s bringing off the court right now, but what will happen when he gets back on it? Does he take Paschall’s minutes? Some of Ingles’? Jordan Clarkson or Bojan Bogdanovic’s? Royce O’Neale or Whiteside’s? All of the above?
I’m not 100% ready to say that the Jazz’s bench is beautiful. Obviously, the schedule has been frightfully easy so far, and I’ll be interested to see how this works with an opponent that spends more time looking at the scouting reports — Oklahoma City, Sacramento, and Houston were all teams that are just trying to get practice at their base defense, and the Denver’s bench looks really weak at the moment. Mike Budenholzer in Milwaukee won’t be afraid to experiment, so that’s a game to circle.
Yes, the tests have been easy, but they’ve aced them so far.
2. Against bad shooting teams, playing contain defense
The Jazz do read the scouting report, and tonight’s was clear: let these Rockets fire away some bad shots. Remarkably, the Rockets only had an effective field goal percentage of 37.4% before garbage time tonight.
In other words, every time they put up a shot, the Rockets were just as efficient as Ronnie Brewer’s career 3-point percentage.
But the Jazz did a good job into forcing them into the shots that they wanted to take. The key with the Rockets is to not let them get into the open court, where their good athleticism and youthful speed can mean a lot of easy, momentum shifting baskets. Tonight, the Jazz got back after their turnovers, turning potential transition opportunities into half-court possessions.
Take this, the very first play of the game. Mike Conley’s trying to lob Rudy Gobert, but he’s walled off. That means the Jazz have two players stuck under their hoop as the Rockets get the ball, and O’Neale is even in the corner — it’s a huge transition opportunity.
But O’Neale sprints back: not only enough to pick up his man, but enough to get in the paint and stop the Rockets’ center. That allows Gobert the time to sprint down the court to get his guy, and then the Jazz’s defense can fan out from there.
Does a better team attack this more pointedly? Probably. But against bad teams, just taking away option No. 1 is enough. The Jazz did that tonight, allowing the Rockets to get only 7% of their possessions in transition. And in the half-court ones, the Jazz were dominant, allowing only 60 points per 100 possessions. That’s a recipe for an easy, easy win.
3. One other way to attack switches
I no longer really believe that the Jazz’s problem against small-ball lineups is on their offensive end: they were able to score too effectively against the Clippers, where they had an excellent offensive rating. The problem is on defense, and I think it’s still a fair question mark.
But I liked this move from Donovan Mitchell in the middle of the game. The Rockets switch out on Mitchell, meaning a one-on-one opportunity for him against Daniel Theis. I expected either a pull-up three or a series of crossovers leading to a drive. That’s how a quicker player beats a slower one, right?
Instead, he passes out, then cuts inside, for the easy give-and go. The defense collapses to help, and Royce O’Neale gets the easy three.
It’s a pretty risky play, but I still like that Bogdanovich made it. He delivered the ball accurately enough that Theis couldn’t get it, and he’s a good enough passer that he’ll probably do that 90% of the time.
