Utah Jazz
EMPTYING THE NOGGIN – Harden too much and drought too long

SUMMARY: Jazz played the Rockets to the wire with marvelous effort fell short at the end as James Harden put on an MVP performance to carry the Rockets to the win.
• James Harden had to do it all himself for the Rockets tonight. The Jazz had a great game plan against Harden and made shots super difficult and he was still able to score 47 points. Knowing the Jazz game plan it is incredible to watch Harden work. Every time the Jazz defensive player made a simple mistake of any kind Harden knew and took advantage immediately. It could be subtle and he jumps on it. The Jazz missed communicated on a high pick and roll between he and Chris Paul where Royce O’Neale and Ricky Rubio got tangled and he nailed the three from super deep. Both of those guys were great on him tonight. The Jazz forced him right into Gobert and then the Jazz worked really hard to bring another defender over to prevent the Capela lob and the Rockets didn’t get a lob all game.
• Harden played the entire second half. The Rockets wanted this game and they needed every ounce of Harden to get it.
• The game was a 3 point game late when Harden took 5 steps into a shot and drew a foul on Ricky Rubio that prevented the Jazz from any last chance to win. It was total garbage.
• The Jazz defense was on point. Guys were rotating perfectly. Help from the weakside was perfect on Capela. Guys were dropping into passing lanes to force turnovers. The execution of the plan was at a really high level. This team played with grit that will win a ton of games.
• Harden will frustrate the fans but if you want to look at where the game was lost is another late 1st quarter early 2nd quarter scoring drought from the Jazz. The exact same thing that cost the Jazz the game in Mexico City v. Orlando. Tonight Ricky Rubio hit a shot at 4:18 of the 1st quarter. Then the Jazz made one field goal the entire time Rubio was on the bench. The Jazz went 1 for 15 with 3 turnovers until Rubio made a shot at 7:15 mark of the 2nd quarter.
• Over the last two games when Ricky Rubio has been off the floor the Jazz shot 13 of 43 and 4 of 16 from three. They were outscored by 12 points in 29 minutes. They had an offensive rating of 69.7. This is costing the Jazz games. There are a ton of other things you can look at but this is what cost the Jazz the last two games.
• This is not the same second unit as last year. The Jazz 2nd unit last year for much of the year was Donovan Mitchell and the point and Jonas Jerebko playing Thabo Sefolosha minutes. In the last three games Thabo has played 37 minutes without scoring. Thabo is not going to be a big scorer, he does a ton of other things when he is on the floor. However, when that unit is not scoring that is jumps out a little bit.
• The Jazz shot 15 of 31 at the rim tonight. This is coming off a 12 of 31 night at the rim. The Jazz do such a great job getting open looks they have to make these shots at the rim.
• The Jazz got 18 corner 3 attempts tonight which is an amazing number. They made 6.
• Maybe equally incredible is the Jazz forced the Rockets into 24 mid range 2s and they went just 4 of 24 on those shots. This is Houston taking shots where they are uncomfortable. This is exactly what the Jazz were hoping to do.
• Jazz defensive rating was an amazing 97.6 against the #1 offensive team in the NBA over the last 20 games.
• Joe Ingles was in single digits for the 4th time in 5 games.
• Jae Crowder had 10 rebounds.
• The Jazz had a great plan. They executed it really well and collectively on the defensive end. A superstar player made too many plays and for the Jazz to be able to overcome an offensive drought.
Utah Jazz
Danny Ainge the Executive Part 1 – Rebuild to Championship – What can we learn

In a part series a deep dive look into Danny Ainge career as a General Manager and what we can learn from how he might run the Utah Jazz. Ainge’s career has 4 stages and today we look at the first two the rebuild to the Championship. In the next episode we will look at the Fleece into a contender. The common threads of Ainge’s career are a great read of the moment, a variety in the types of players he acquires, added value that matters, perfect recognition of his talent, fleecing of other teams and he doesn’t always hit on this draft picks but he doesn’t miss. David Locke, the radio voice of the Utah Jazz and Jazz NBA Insider brings you the daily podcast on the Utah Jazz. Locked On Jazz Podcast https://www.lockedonjazz.net/ LockedOnJazz.com https://buff.ly/2FEZTVY Apple https://apple.co/3Dc8QBq Spotify https://spoti.fi/3IfvgVX Stitcher https://bit.ly/3pkGyzB Google https://bit.ly/3I8TwJz Follow David Locke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DLocke09 #NBA #UtahJazz #DonovanMitchell #RudyGobert #NBAPodcast
Utah Jazz
Luka Doncic and Dallas made Phoenix look like Utah and it was a bad day for Centers

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks made the Phoenix Suns look the same way they made the Utah Jazz look. How did they do it? What does it mean for the Jazz and the Suns looking forward.
The Game 7 match-ups were a bad day for Centers in the NBA. Brook Lopez who had led the take away the rim style of NBA defense in Milwaukee had Grant Williams shooting 16 three point shots and the Celtics got the win. The Phoenix Suns #1 pick Deandre Ayton was played off the floor by the Dallas Mavericks as well as “internal” issues. Plus, the Mavericks 5 out drive offense makes it very hard for a center to defend on the perimeter.
David Locke the radio voice of the Utah Jazz and Jazz NBA Insider looks at all those options and sets the table for what the Utah Jazz can do.
Locked On Jazz Podcast
LockedOnJazz.com https://buff.ly/2FEZTVY
Apple https://apple.co/3Dc8QBq
Spotify https://spoti.fi/3IfvgVX
Stitcher https://bit.ly/3pkGyzB
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Follow David Locke on Twitter:
#NBA #UtahJazz #DonovanMitchell #RudyGobert #NBAPodcast
Utah Jazz
Five off-season models for the Utah Jazz. Which do you prefer?

The Utah Jazz are confronting a pivotal off-season. How will they proceed? One school of thought, it has run its self out and to blow it all up? What benefit does that have? From there, there are three different approaches, trying to add a home run to the already set core of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Another approach would be to move the a bunch of pieces to add pieces and add depth. The final choose would be to narrow down to one of the core pieces are re-mold the franchise with that core piece. David Locke the radio voice of the Utah Jazz and Jazz NBA Insider looks at all those options and sets the table for what the Utah Jazz can do. Locked On Jazz Podcast https://www.lockedonjazz.net/ LockedOnJazz.com https://buff.ly/2FEZTVY Apple https://apple.co/3Dc8QBq Spotify https://spoti.fi/3IfvgVX Stitcher https://bit.ly/3pkGyzB Google https://bit.ly/3I8TwJz Follow David Locke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DLocke09 #NBA #UtahJazz #DonovanMitchell #RudyGobert #NBAPodcast
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