Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 122-99 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers from Salt Lake Tribune beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Playing without spacing
Here’s the look Mike Conley faced in the Jazz’s first possession:
Mike Conley doesn't really have any good options here. (NBA.com)
Without Kelly Olynyk, the Jazz started two players who are non-shooting threats — Jarred Vanderbilt and Walker Kessler. That means defenses can do what you see above: Jarrett Allen can stay on Conley’s side of the floor, mostly ignoring Kessler in the dunker spot, while Evan Mobley can stay in the paint ready to help too by ignoring Vanderbilt. The result is that Conley has no driving ability, and can only take a three.
Furthermore, because their two longest players are so deep in the paint, they’re in phenomenal rebounding position: there’s very little chance that a Jazz player gets the ball here. But so too are the Jazz’s best defenders, so when the Cavaliers get the rebound, the Jazz are in big trouble in transition.
Here’s the second play of the game:
Watch how Allen and Mobley can just move to cut off the threat of Markkanen cutting to the paint. Combine that with Garland and Mitchell denying the ball to Conley and Clarkson, and there’s only one option: a Vanderbilt three. He hesitates and misses.
This is something that Will Hardy tried to rectify very quickly: he took out Vanderbilt only 3 minutes and 19 seconds into the game, not because Vanderbilt was in foul trouble or anything, but because it was going to be difficult to score as a team.
It’s worth thinking about this for the long term, too. Kessler is 21, Vanderbilt is 23 — on paper, they should both be long-term pieces for the Jazz. But it’s really, really hard to play them together against any team with real gameplan discipline, because of the above. For now, it’s fine, because you can largely stagger them. But in the future, if and when Kessler demands more minutes, it’s going to be a problem.
It’s also the kind of game that makes you appreciate why the Jazz acquired Kelly Olynyk. Look, I’m on record as being against the Bogdanovic-for-Olynyk trade — the former is a better player, period. But clearly, Olynyk makes a big difference for the other players on the floor being able to play their games. (Now, would it be better for the long-term if the Jazz had another first-round pick in a Bogdanovic deal and had a better pick of their own this year? Possibly. But that’s a different conversation for another day.)
2. Talen Horton-Tucker’s shot
For the sake of keeping the Triple Team fun and interesting, let’s talk about THT’s circus shot. Honestly, I think it is the coolest shot of this Jazz season:
First of all, it’s insane, in multiple ways.
• Talen, there are FIFTEEN seconds left on the shot clock here.
• Also, how are you so confident that Caris LeVert is not just going to swat this ridiculous attempt released from the 3 foot mark into Row Z?
• Sir, you are not even able to really look at the rim here.
But there’s a fine line between insanity and brilliance, and THT, by boldly going where no man has gone before, has achieved the latter. If he had missed this, he looks ridiculous. Since he made it, it will live on highlight reels forever. It may be the lasting impact of this game — in 20 years, that’s going to be on Future YouTube.
Speaking of highlight reels, I can’t help but notice the commenters on current YouTube and about-to-be-past Twitter that this is a travel. It is not a travel! His left foot is his pivot foot. That pivot foot is glued to the floor. Indeed, THT is so committed to not traveling that he almost sprains his ankle and does unspeakable things to his groin. Do not try to take this away from this man — he risked everything, and came out victorious. Well, in a smaller sense.
3. Seeing Donovan
It was good to see Donovan Mitchell.
Earlier today, I went to the Cavaliers’ practice facility, where he took shots alongside former Jazz teammates Ricky Rubio and Raul Neto, before going around to each of the Cavaliers’ baskets and talking to each of their players. He spoke to the media for about 10 to 15 minutes, that Q&A is here. Afterwards, we talked about baseball for a while, gave each other fist bumps, and went our separate ways.
Then, at the game we saw Mitchell interact with his remaining Jazz teammates — Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson especially, but also Rudy Gay and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Mitchell’s sister Jordan and mother Nicole were also at the game; they attended his post-game press conference as well.
In between, he played a near-flawless game of basketball, scoring 23 points in 23 minutes that was limited by foul trouble and the fact that the Cavs were beating the Jazz badly on both ends. His devastating skillset of the long-range shooting excellence and the paint maneuverability were absolutely on display tonight — I think he only took one iffy shot. He made it.
Cavs fans love him. So does their media. So does their coaching staff. So do his teammates.
It reminded me of Mitchell’s first couple of seasons, when he was darn near worshipped in Utah. That wasn’t too long ago. Mitchell brought Jazz fans hope, legitimate hope, that he would bring the thing that no other player had been able to before, an NBA title. After all, his rookie production was up there with the absolute greats.
Instead, it all came crashing down, as both he and the team couldn’t deliver on those lofty goals. Mitchell said something today that interested me about that era: “Sometimes your time just runs out.” It’s not supposed to after only five seasons, but it did.
It’s clear now: everyone was at fault. That era ended because of Mitchell’s inability to overcome or atone for his weaknesses, because of Gobert’s inability to develop an offensive game and difficulty in getting along with his teammates, because of Jazz leadership’s iffy decision-making at key times, and even, we learned today, because of some of Jazz fans’ racial attitudes.
When everyone is at fault, it’s hard to put a nice bow on an unsuccessful era. Even the narratives aren’t clear here, and the reality is even more jumbled. A time that started with so much promise is over now, and there’s nothing left to do but try to rebuild anew.
