Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 118-115 loss to the Miami Heat from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. In a one-possession game, a lot of possessions to look at
Jazz lost this one by three against a very good Miami Heat team.
Some of it was just “tip-your-cap” shooting by the Heat. The other team shoots 52% from three on the night? That’s pretty impressive. (I told you guys that the opponent 3-point shooting would turn around.) They shoot 58% from the mid-range, on big volume? Even more so. The Jazz could have defended better, to be sure, but one more shot rattling out instead of in would have also done the trick.
But I think it also pays to look at individual possessions in which the Jazz could have played better, individual possessions that could have made the difference.
First, we’ll go last. Here’s the final shot of the game:
Interestingly, the Jazz go 5-out, with all of their best shooters on the floor. Predictably, the ball goes to Mitchell, the Jazzman who was having the best game; he fires up an off-balance three.
Live, it didn’t seem like a very high-percentage look to me — I might have preferred a dribble pull-up that was more in rhythm. But I think the possibility Miami fouls before a shot with a 3-point lead to force two free-throws, while the Jazz have no timeouts, is worth considering here. It’s also worth considering the possibility that the Jazz get the offensive rebound, which also could have given them two bites at the apple. Finally, Butler being so close actually could have been a benefit — I’m not so sure that this isn’t a foul on the shot itself. In the end, I think it’s a defensible shot in that situation.
I did wish Mitchell would have done more with the opportunity at the end of the first half. This is a weird one to nitpick, but 3.8 seconds is certainly enough time to get the ball into the front-court and get a shot up. Yes, Mitchell is being trapped... but why not try to split the trap and make something happen? Absolutely nothing is going to happen if you don’t even try.
Or this miscommunication (?) between O’Neale and Mitchell when guarding Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler; somehow they collide, hurt each other, and leave Herro open?
Or this weird rebounding attempt from Rudy Gobert.... is his plan to just hit the ball with one hand? It leads to a 3.
The Jazz actually did a lot right tonight — even though Mitchell appears in 3 of the 4 videos above, he was brilliant in his play for the big majority of the night. In the end, they’ll be wishing they could have just been one or two possessions better.
2. Big Steal Royce O’Neale
Jazz PR man Danny Franks worked hard to popularize the nickname “Big Meal” for Royce O’Neale — so much so that its even on his Basketball-Reference page. But couldn’t Big Steal work even better? After all, he was an undrafted free agent, a steal of a pickup for the Jazz... and he gets a lot of steals! Just a thought. Probably a dumb one.
Regardless, the Big (M/St)eal was terrific against the Heat. He scored 15 points, his highest scoring total of the season, but more impressively, added six steals. He was incredibly intelligent tonight in expecting passes that are a key part of the Heat offense, then getting in the way — you could tell he did his film work.
Like here: he’s guarding Duncan Robinson, a huge 3-point threat! Why would you leave him? Well, because it’s going to be a nearly impossible pass for Bam Adebayo to be rolling to the rim and kick it behind him. So instead, O’Neale is all the way down in the baseline, guarding the possibility of a Kyle Lowry relocation three first. Pretty impressive.
But the Heat also did their film work on O’Neale: they know that he’s not typically an aggressive attacker. So they had O’Neale’s man on the perimeter sink pretty far into the paint, trying to dig at drivers like Mitchell, Conley, and Bojan Bogdanovic in order to cause havoc.
Tonight, though, O’Neale did attack, and did so impressively and responsibly. For example, the 3-point shot that got the Jazz within 2 was a O’Neale drive and kick:
If he can do that consistently, it makes the Jazz much harder to guard. So far, O’Neale has just as low of a usage rate as he has in previous seasons, but maybe this performance causes an uptick in aggression.
3. Jazz need more from the Gobert/Conley bench minutes
Last year, the Jazz dominated games when their hybrid bench unit was against the other team’s opposition bench. Heck, they’ve done it in games this year, too — that lineup has a +11 net rating, even after tonight.
But it’s been much more inconsistent, with some big pluses in the Jazz’s big wins, and some more disappointing performances. Tonight was the worst of the bunch: the lineup of Conley, Jordan Clarkson, Joe Ingles, Eric Paschall, and Gobert was outscored by 15 points in their 11 minutes together on the floor.
Clarkson reverted back to bad Clarkson — he’s been wildly up and down this year. Paschall and Ingles both missed three of his four threes; that’s going to happen sometimes.
But I do expect more consistent play from Conley and Gobert especially. On this play, Gobert just allows Lowry to get the pull-up three.
I guarantee he’s not supposed to be that deep in pick-and-roll coverage against Lowry, who now shoots fully two-thirds of his shots from 3-point range.
And here, Lowry just outrebounds Conley, twice. Conley, both times, doesn’t get a hit on his man. Lowry had 12 rebounds tonight.
In the end, Jazz head coach Quin Snyder finished the game with Hassan Whiteside over Gobert. And honestly, that was the right call: Whiteside played much better. Gobert’s had a good start to the season, but it wasn’t there tonight. Maybe that will be a wakeup call come tomorrow’s game against Orlando.
