Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 126-119 win over the Detroit Pistons from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. A more exciting game than a well-played one
On paper, you wouldn’t think much of that Jazz game: the Jazz got a 29-point lead in the first quarter, and hung on to that lead to win. It never got within a possession. The Pistons couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean (27% from three), the Jazz couldn’t help but turn over the ball (27 turnovers).
But if you watched that game? You’d know how wild it was. We had players (Ron Holland and Jordan Clarkson) squaring up to fight, we had taunting techs, we had players screaming at fans and vice versa, we had skirmishes all over the floor.
Honestly? It was entertaining as all get out. Despite the margin, the physical play — and the emotion and passion that the players showed throughout the contest — made that game incredibly fun to watch.
There’s been a lot of talk around the NBA in the last couple of weeks about the game’s TV ratings. There' no real debate: they’re down. Ratings across a lot of sports are down, to be fair, but certainly, fewer people are watching NBA games than they used to. I suspect, though, that if games were more consistently like this one, people would tune in more often.
So how do you make that happen?
The first thought is to loosen up the officiating — let the players be more physical with each other without blowing the whistle. That naturally spills over into creating these kind of mano-a-mano battles throughout the rest of the contest, like we saw tonight.
But: the problem with doing that is it unintentionally incentivizes even more three-point shooting. Why try to drive to the rim through a handcheck and contact at the rim when you can just take a pull-up three instead?
I would, though, lighten up on the consequences for extracurricular activity. Yeah, sure, let players taunt. Let them scuffle. Let them talk to the crowd, and let the crowd talk to them. This stuff is fun — I’ve yet to see a crowd be disappointed when any of the above happens. Instead, the game becomes much more exciting.
2. Jazz against the trap
The NBA is now a league of tall ballhandlers.
Go look around the league and look at the leading ballhandler on each team. How tall are they? Most are at least 6-5. Detroit’s Cade Cunningham is 6-6, as is Luka Doncic, as is James Harden, as is Devin Booker. Also take into account the giants of the game: Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic. Having a tall ballhandler is a massive advantage.
On the Jazz, Keyonte George is listed at 6-4 and Collin Sexton is listed at 6-3, but let’s be honest: they’re a little smaller than that. And on the court, both can be dwarfed by their opponents.
That means that it’s even more important that they play ahead of the defense. But as the Pistons tried to come back in this game, they used traps against the Jazz’s small ballhandlers to great effect. George had five turnovers, that’s not good. Collin Sexton had ten.
You can see the impact the size disadvantage has in these traps:
It’s funny, because besides the turnovers, both Sexton and George had very good games; both were on fire from three. But you can see why both may be better suited as scoring guards rather than setup guards — often, they just can’t see over their defender to find open teammates.
3. The Jazz’s youth approach
Cody Williams was at an NBA game tonight. It wasn’t this one, though.
Instead, he was down in Orlando, where the G-League Salt Lake City Stars will play their next two games as part of the G-League Showcase. The Orlando Magic were playing Williams' brother’s team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and so Cody was in attendance.
Williams isn’t alone in Orlando, though: fellow rookies Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski are down there too.
Look, I’m not a fan of the decision.
The whole point of this season, as was made clear numerous times in preseason interviews, was to develop the youth and push for a good draft pick this season. After Plan A: Big Game Hunting failed, that was Plan B. That’s because Plan C: Play Out Another Season Of Middling To Bad Basketball With Random NBA Veterans And Get The Ninth Pick Or Whatever Again was too depressing to realistically consider.
So why are the Jazz doing exactly that? Why are they prioritizing guys who are already in their primes in order to win random games in Detroit? Prioritizing guys who — and I don’t think this is a spoiler — are not likely to be part of the next good Jazz team?
I understand the counterarguments here:
• In order to keep the locker room, Will Hardy’s playing time has to be based on merit, and the veterans are significantly better at basketball.
• The G-League is better for player development.
I just don’t really buy either argument.
• On the former: whether Drew Eubanks is “bought in” or not doesn’t really matter to the future of the Jazz. The future culture of the Jazz will be established when the star walks in the door.
• On the latter: on equivalent minutes, I’m taking NBA development every time, because the G-League game is so scattered, with its insane pace and limited rim protection. (There are certainly some instances where it can be helpful. For example, I supported Williams' original Stars trip just to get him reps at having the ball in his hands. But just sending all of the rookies down there, when the critical alternative is just playing the rookies in the NBA, I think is likely to lead to worse outcomes, not better ones.)
Ah well. I suspect that sending all three down to the Stars will be a relatively short-lived plan of attack, so it probably doesn’t matter a ton. G-League stints, and a win in Detroit, likely won’t make the difference between a successful tank and an unsuccessful one. But it’d be nice if it felt like the margins were in the Jazz’s favor.
Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
