Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 105-92 win over the Orlando Magic from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. In the end, the players are going to try to win
Tanking is funny.
On Saturday, I wrote about how I felt it was likely that the Jazz would take steps from allowing their veterans to play together: "But we also know the Jazz don’t want to be a decent team. I do suspect that the Jazz make some sort of move in the injury report or in the trade market soon to prevent this lineup playing together for much longer."
The move came quick: on Sunday morning, the Jazz added three of those starters to the injury report. Lauri Markkanen was out due to back spasms, John Collins was out for personal reasons, and Keyonte George was out due to heel soreness. Jordan Clarkson also sat, having been pulled midgame against Miami due to his plantar fasciitis. I’ll let you decide for yourself which players would have missed a playoff game in the same circumstances.
So the Jazz started Johnny Juzang, Micah Potter, and Isaiah Collier against Orlando — and still won.
To be sure, that was largely due to Orlando’s own lengthy injury report, filled with longer-term and more significant issues among their stars. Paolo Banchero, Franz and Mo Wagner, Jalen Suggs, and even Anthony Black were out for the Magic.
The game itself was sloppy. The Jazz won despite having more turnovers than assists. Missed shots were legion, but slightly more commonplace from Orlando’s side. It felt, in many ways, like a preseason game — but clearly, the Jazz’s young bench is better than Orlando’s.
And in the end, that’s the issue the Jazz’s front office faces: even if they do everything in their control to lose these games and try to get a better draft pick, going for Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper, the players are going to try to win. Eight of the 10 Jazz players tonight are still fighting for their NBA lives, and they’re heavily incentivized to play as hard as they can. The others are Collin Sexton and Walker Kessler, and they’re fighters by nature, too.
And because they’re playing against the Eastern Conference, trying to win may well be good enough to get those wins. The Jazz (9-25 this season overall) now have a winning 6-4 record against the East. They’re only 3-21 against the West.
The schedule does continue to stay relatively soft for the Jazz, too: they’ve got the Hawks next (5-11 against the West), then the spiraling Heat again, then the Suns (3-7 in their last 10), then the awful Nets, then the awful Hornets, then the awful Pelicans twice in a row.
It’s going to be a weird couple of weeks for Jazz fans, in other words. Likely fun for the players and fans who want to win, but likely rough for those fans who want Cooper Flagg or the like in a Jazz uniform.
2. Kyle Filipowski making a difference
In the early part of the season, Kyle Filipowski was the Jazz’s best young player. Then he got hurt, and had played extremely timidly since his return from injury: just 3.4 points per game while being near-invisible on the court.
Sunday night, though, was his best game since returning. He added 12 points on 6-8 shooting, seven rebounds, and three assists for the Jazz. Perhaps playing against the Magic’s depleted roster gave him more confidence, or perhaps his minutes total being bumped to 30 was the difference.
Regardless, I think Filipowski’s at his best when he is being aggressive, including and especially with his physicality. He’s still young, just 21, but there’s a big difference in his success when he tries to play without making contact and when he’s really embracing how big he is.
And then the playmaking remains just so tantalizing for a 6-11 guy. There was a moment that stood out midway through the second: He had a great pass to Brice Sensabaugh in the corner, who had another brilliant game tonight (27 points) but I can’t write about every day.
Just like with Sensabaugh, I’d like to see him continue to play longer stints, including with the Jazz’s best players, in hopes that he re-finds and makes a habit of the aggression that can be such a difference-maker for him.
3. The “after” action
What do you do when a play doesn’t work?
Recently, I asked Will Hardy about what he wants his team to do in these late shot clock situations. There’s plenty of times in the NBA when your first thrust doesn’t work out, the play you may have called has been stifled by your opponent, and you just have the ball with, say, 5-10 seconds left on the shot clock with not much going on. What then?
Hardy says it’s something the team discusses before every game in the morning — they call it their “after action.” “Each game presents something a little different,” Hardy said.
So what might you see? Hardy gave examples.
• “Like, early in the season, for example, we were having Kyle flash to the elbow to catch around eight seconds, and we were trying to play more off-ball action.”
• “There are certain nights where playing against the (other) team’s five is better than playing against their smalls, and so we’re trying to get Walker, or Drew or whoever is guarded by their five to run out into pick and roll.”
• “And there’s some nights we want to keep the five out of it, and we want to play small vs. small.”
Then, Hardy says, the team may try to adjust their after action in huddles at timeouts, if they sense a weakness in their opponent.
Watching these plays, I think, is an interesting glance into the Jazz’s preparation for a game, what they think they can get going at a moment’s notice. In these two games this weekend, I think they felt pretty confident in Collin Sexton isolation early before swapping out more to getting switches onto Brice Sensabaugh late.
Something to watch for you basketball nerds. And yes, I figure if you’re reading the Triple Team this Jazz season, you’re probably a basketball nerd.
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