Considering the team’s defined goals for the season, the Jazz’ opener was a stunning success. Young people played hard and well (some of them), maybe everybody learned a little, and the team lost 126-124—prefect start.
You’ve been told. It’s not about wins and losses this year Jazz fans… it’s about ‘player development”, learning who these players are and, oh yes, staying within dreaming distance in the Cooper Flagg (et.al.) draft sweepstakes.
Wednesday night was really as good as it gets. The Jazz swam the ropes perfectly between their two best lanes… competitiveness and eventual failure. The Jazz started slow but got into a grove in the second to make the game interesting. Kessler was the bomb finishing with 16 points, 14 boards (eight offensive), and 5 blocks. He made the wunderkind Edey look like a slow cold reptile in comparison. Markkanen pounded out 35, living at the line. Taylor Hendricks actually looked like an NBA player (maybe) hustling on the boards and stroking 3’s from the corner. And Goerge… well, not so much. Tough game kid. He did have seven assists with only one turnover. But we’re looking for more and forward to you bouncing back with the offense on Friday against the Warriors.
The Jazz continued to struggle getting the ball up the court and getting into their offense—a consistent problem for some time now. This is mostly a Keyonte issue it seems. Teams press him early, slowing down the Jazz from the get-go. Hardy seems content to let the poor boy battle his way up the court instead of providing any screening help for him from the in-bounder or advancing the ball with the pass. So, he needs to figure this out—push hard early up the court and then put some pressure on the set defense once you get there. This is a thing… they need to fix it (but still lose of course).
And the turnovers! Yes, they stayed under 20, which is a change for this bunch. But 17 is still too many. Especially when you are only turning over the Grizz, a very turnover prone team, 13 times. With Collier on the bench, there’s nobody on the team that seems to even ponder stealing the ball unless it hits them in the face. Twenty-four points off turnovers for the Grizz, only 13 for the Jazz. This must get better.
And yet… really fun game and a loss. What more can the true Jazz fan want?