In order to win, the Jazz need to play a specific style of basketball.
“Our approach every day is that this a team, everybody comes in and does their job. We’re gonna beat you with our collective strength,” Hardy said.
If they approach the game individualistically, then they’re going to falter. That’s exactly what happened in their game on Monday night, as the Jazz got easily beaten by the 18-27 Nets by a whopping score of 147-114. It’s by far the biggest margin of victory of the Nets’ season.
But the result wasn’t surprising given how the Jazz played basketball — in much the same way they did during their dismal beginning to the 2023-24 season.
In particular, when they could have passed, they chose to drive. Most frequently, the Jazz attacked the Nets’ best defender, the long, versatile Mikal Bridges, to predictably poor effect. It frustrated Hardy.
“I’m not usually called conventional. But in this case, I would agree with conventional thinking,” he said. “There are other people that are better selections when you’re going to play one on one.”
The Nets started the game with Bridges guarding Sexton while the much smaller Spencer Dinwiddie guarded the Jazz’s best player, Lauri Markkanen. But Nets coach Jacque Vaughn correctly guessed that the Sexton, and the other Jazz guards later, wouldn’t prioritize finding Markkanen and instead attack individually instead.
The result: a lot of misses, a lot of turnovers, and a lot of ugly lines up and down the Jazz’s box score. While Collin Sexton had been playing well, he shot just 1-10 in Monday’s contest. Simone Fontecchio, who garnered a lot of out-of-town attention thanks to his Italian heritage? 2-9. Even the typically solid Markkanen finished just 4-12 from the field. No Jazz player had a positive plus-minus.
The defensive end was also problematic; the Nets have a below-average offense, with their previous scoring high in a regulation game this year seeing 133 points. Tonight, the Jazz allowed 147. What happened?
“We just got outworked tonight, plain and simple,” Hardy said. (We need to) just get back to the approach that got us a string of very good results over the last month: we’re going to play 10 people, our energy is not going to wane throughout the game because of that.”
The Nets also gained a boost from the return of the enigmatic Ben Simmons, who has played in just six NBA games before Monday due to a ten-week back injury. Simmons, though, looked extremely comfortable in his return, playing 18 minutes and nearly picking up a triple-double: 10 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds.
To be sure, there are potential reasons for the Jazz’s ugly play. They’re at the tail end of a long, 6-game road trip. There was a large presence of in-city friends and family members at the contest, perhaps the Jazz naturally wanted to show off for their loved ones in attendance. And perhaps the upcoming trade deadline is on the minds of many, their futures potentially determined sooner than 10 days from now.
But regardless, it’s not the kind of play that will win plaudits from their head coach; a verbal berating only prevented by their immediately upcoming game Tuesday night across New York at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks gives them an opportunity to be better.
“I’m excited to play tomorrow,” Hardy said. “Because win or lose tomorrow I expect to see a style of play that’s far more reflective of our group.”
