Utah Jazz
EMPTYING THE NOGGIN – In Western Conference big battle Blazers get the big roadwin.
SUMMARY: Jusuf Nurkic and the Blazers slice the Jazz apart in the third quarter and move onto a big Western Conference win on the road over the Utah Jazz.
• This was a big game. Jazz were looking to win the season series. Blazers had lost 9 of 12 on the road but had won 8 of 11 overall. The Jazz had won 6 straight. Last year the two teams played on the 82nd game of the season to determine who won the division. Tonight was the battle you would have anticipated.
• Through the 4th quarter the game had 13 lead changes and 12 ties and looked to be going down to the wire in a possession by possession battle but the Blazers went on a 23-8 run from the 10:38 mark in the 4th to the 2:45 in the 4th quarter.
• Game was tied at 89 then the Blazers got a three from Leonard, two more baskets and another three from Leonard as the Blazers went on a 10-2 run. The Jazz only points were Favors free throws. Rubio checked out of the game 89-86 as he hit his minutes restriction.
• Donovan missed his first 6 shots of the 4th quarter though he was able to get to the line three times in that stretch. Four of the misses were short mid range shots from 4 to 8 feet where the Blazers cut off the driving lane and forced Donovan into the floater range. Those are low percentage hard shots. Donovan got rolling after that scoring the next 14 points for the Jazz, but the time he got it going the Jazz were down 11 with 5:00 left and you don’t win that very often.
• The Jazz whipped up on the Blazers in the first two games by a combined 51 points. The Blazers came out in third quarter with some nice aggressiveness and great adjustments to open the floor for cutters and back door cuts. Nurkic was able to make Rudy guard at 15 feet and this open up the curl routes and the cutters.
• The Jazz have defended Lillard well this year having Rudy come up to the point of the screen and make the three an uncomfortable shot. The Blazers in the first half had just a 94 offensive rating and were just 1 of 5 from three.
• In the second half they were able to adjust and get 7 threes in 13 attempts
• Terry Stotts, the Blazers head coach has great admiration for Joe Ingles. Tonight Joe was 1 for 7 and 0 for 3 from three. Was this because the Blazers tried to take Joe away or the Jazz were unable to move the ball tonight to give Ingles good looks I am not sure. The Blazers drop Nurkic on the pick and roll with the purpose of not leaving any of the three point shooters.
• Kyle Korver was 0 for 5 and Evan Turner was a hard defensive matchup for the Jazz to deal with tonight.
• Interesting Portland closed with Lillard, CJ, Turner, Layman and Nurkic. Blazers are now 29-0 when they lead going into the 4th quarter.
• Ricky Rubio returned tonight and with a mintues restriction played 13 minutes while adding 12 points. He had 4 turnovers and the Jazz were +1 in his 13 minutes.
• Jazz shot 39.6% and 21.2% from three
• Jazz allowed 39 points in the 3rd quarter. Nurkic dominated the 3rd quarter after going 2 for 8 in the first half. He was 6 for 7 in the 3rd quarter with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocks in the quarter
• Lillard closed the door on the game 8 points on 3 of 8 shooting in the 4th quarter
• This is a big win for the Blazers who had been struggling on the road v. the West and a tough loss for the Jazz who start a crucial stretch of 5 games v. Western Conference foes that will determine where they stand heading into the February and the final part of the season.
Utah Jazz
LOCKED ON JAZZ – Why so passive? How Harden blows up the Jazz defense? Donovan Mitchell 2nd year playoffs
The Utah Jazz are getting ready for Game #3 v. the Houston Rockets. David Locke, the radio voice of the Utah Jazz and Jazz NBA Insider takes a look at why the Jazz looked so passive in Game 2 in Houston. Then Locke digs into what makes Harden so unique and why he has blown up the #1 defense in the NBA. Locke also takes a look at what other 2nd year players like Donovan Mitchell have done in their 2nd year playoff season.
The Utah Jazz have been blown out in both of the first two games of their first round series with the Houston Rockets. David Locke, the radio voice of the Utah Jazz and Jazz NBA Insider tries to figure out what has happened and why it has happened. Plus, it is a live show so Locke takes your questions from Facebook live.
Summary: The Jazz start poorly, the Rockets pounced and Harden was amazing it all lead to a Rockets blow out of the Jazz.
- The Jazz opened the night turning the ball over on 4 of their first 8 possessions. The Rockets scored 10 points on those 4 turnovers and that would tell the story of the night. The Jazz trailed 12 to 4 at the first time out.
- Then Harden went nuts. He is incredible. He never misses a read. In Game 1 the Jazz took away the step back and free throws. In the first quarter he had as many step backs and as many free throws as he had all of the first game. I really have no idea how you are supposed to guard him, He was 5 of 11 on step back tonight. He makes those at 40%. You have to take that away but the only way to do that is to play him from behind and force him into a drive.
- He has become the perfect modern player. The league values the three. He can make it at nearly 40%. The league knows you can’t afford to have a 40% three point shooter take 15 to 20 threes a game so you have to play him in this strange manner to force him to drive. Harden would take 20 threes if you let him. No one has ever had his three point shooting step back coupled with his handle and his passing. This just destroys the defense. When you force him to drive he has the floater game and he reads the defense perfectly.
- The Jazz defense failed in transition tonight. According to cleaningtheglass the Rockets averaged 1.7 pts per transition and only .94 in the half court. The .94 is a little above average but the Rockets are usually much better than that in the halfcourt. They are the #2 halfcourt team in the NBA. So the Jazz halfcourt defense was actually ok tonight.
- The Jazz offense is where things should be most concerning. The Jazz were not able to score with regularity against the Rockets in the playoffs last year, they weren’t able to score against them in the regular season and they haven’t been able to score against them tonight.
- The Rockets offense averages about 116 pts per 100 possessions. Even if the Jazz have a great defensive night hey will be around 108 but the Jazz offense v. the Rockets all season has been below 1 point per possessions. Until that is fixed it is hard see a scenario where the Jazz defense can hold the Rockets offense down far enough to win a game.
- The talk around the Rockets is that they are a better team than a year ago. A year ago they won 65 games and were a Chris Paul hamstring or a glutton of missed 3s away from winning the title.
- The Jazz average .74 pts in the half court
- Rubio and Crowder are a combined 2 of 14 on open threes.
- The Jazz came into the night 22 of 100 on above the break three point shots v. the Rockets this year. It continued again tonight as the Jazz shot 6 of 27 on above the break 3 and some of those were late.
- The Jazz have lost the first two games by 52 points. The Rockets look to be capable of winning the title
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