S
Sarah Todd
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Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson (00) reacts after a 3-point basket by Golden State Warriors guard Donte DiVincenzo during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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SAN FRANCISCO — Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy wants his team to keep some important perspective.
Despite the fact the Jazz lost to the Golden State Warriors 112-107 on Wednesday night, and despite the fact that they had a lead going into the fourth quarter, Hardy was not upset with the way the Jazz played, especially when you look at how they played compared to Monday night in San Antonio.
In the loss to the Spurs, the Jazz allowed 74 points in the paint and their defense was pretty suspect throughout the game, and that’s putting it mildly.
“The last game, I feel, was unacceptable effort-wise,” Jarred Vanderbillt said. “But tonight we competed, played hard and fought.”
The Jazz allowed the Warriors just 34 points in the paint on Wednesday, a 40-point difference from what things looked like on Monday. In addition to that, Hardy was adamant that he was fine with the Jazz’s execution and their shot selection for the most part Wednesday.
This is not a loss that upsets Hardy, and he wants his team to feel encouraged by the way it turned things around after the loss to the Spurs.
“I think it’s really important for our guys to understand that the result tonight does not necessarily reflect how they approached the game as a team,” Hardy said.
“I thought they dug in, really, really competed against a good team in a hard environment to play in. We moved the ball, we got good shots. Their physicality has bothered us in the past and I thought tonight we rose to the occasion and really played a good game with the exception of not making any shots in the fourth quarter.”
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The Jazz were 1 of 12 from 3 in the fourth and 4 of 25 overall through the last 12 minutes and went 4 of 8 from the free throw line in that stretch.
Even with the best defense and with zero mistakes, it would be hard to win an NBA game making just four shots in the fourth quarter.
Hardy and the players all believe that there are always ways that they can improve, that they can be better, but this is not a game that they are going to lose sleep over.
They limited the Warriors to just 24 fourth-quarter points and didn’t let any one player hit more than two shots.
The Jazz were defensively sound, and had they made just a couple of their shots in the fourth, they could be looking at a win rather than a loss.
“We’re all competitive and we want to win every single night,” Hardy said. “But there’s nights that you can play poorly and win and there’s nights that you can execute what you want to, play the way you want to play, and things just don’t go your way.”
I agree with Hardy for the most part, but I don’t think it’s all that fair to leave a loss without some criticism, and there are a few moments where I thought the Jazz could have made better decisions.
So, here are the shots I did not like from the fourth quarter.
First is a midrange jumper from Nickeil Alexander-Walker. I get that it’s hard to hate this shot because he fakes his defender, is wide open and he makes it, but as far as shot selection goes, it’s not the best.
I’d rather have him draw in the defense and kick it out to Lauri Markkanen or Malik Beasley. Later in the quarter, Rudy Gay makes a similar decision, and I don’t like that much either.
This next one though, is just awful.
Alexander-Walker misses Walker Kessler open under the basket and throws a cross-court pass to Rudy Gay.
OK, fine. Alexander-Walker had a taller defender on him, who was pretty close, and it all happened very fast. Not great, but not horrible.
But Rudy Gay was able to watch that unfold, and I feel like it’s impossible to not see Kessler wide open, jumping up and down in front of him.
Instead of passing to Kessler, or taking the wide open 3-pointer, Gay kind of pump fakes, hesitates and then takes a contested 3-pointer.
Gay honestly shouldn’t be taking a 3 anyway. Going into the night, he was shooting 22.4% from deep. I just don’t know how you miss Kessler there.
Here’s the thing though, that’s honestly about it. Maybe I would have preferred that the Jazz try to get a little more open on their Hail Mary attempts at the end, but at that point they’re trying to use as little clock as possible and it was Markkanen and Mike Conley taking the shots and no one is going to be mad at that.
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AP
SAN FRANCISCO — Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy wants his team to keep some important perspective.
Despite the fact the Jazz lost to the Golden State Warriors 112-107 on Wednesday night, and despite the fact that they had a lead going into the fourth quarter, Hardy was not upset with the way the Jazz played, especially when you look at how they played compared to Monday night in San Antonio.
Glass half full
In the loss to the Spurs, the Jazz allowed 74 points in the paint and their defense was pretty suspect throughout the game, and that’s putting it mildly.
“The last game, I feel, was unacceptable effort-wise,” Jarred Vanderbillt said. “But tonight we competed, played hard and fought.”
The Jazz allowed the Warriors just 34 points in the paint on Wednesday, a 40-point difference from what things looked like on Monday. In addition to that, Hardy was adamant that he was fine with the Jazz’s execution and their shot selection for the most part Wednesday.
This is not a loss that upsets Hardy, and he wants his team to feel encouraged by the way it turned things around after the loss to the Spurs.
“I think it’s really important for our guys to understand that the result tonight does not necessarily reflect how they approached the game as a team,” Hardy said.
“I thought they dug in, really, really competed against a good team in a hard environment to play in. We moved the ball, we got good shots. Their physicality has bothered us in the past and I thought tonight we rose to the occasion and really played a good game with the exception of not making any shots in the fourth quarter.”
Related
The Jazz were 1 of 12 from 3 in the fourth and 4 of 25 overall through the last 12 minutes and went 4 of 8 from the free throw line in that stretch.
Even with the best defense and with zero mistakes, it would be hard to win an NBA game making just four shots in the fourth quarter.
Hardy and the players all believe that there are always ways that they can improve, that they can be better, but this is not a game that they are going to lose sleep over.
They limited the Warriors to just 24 fourth-quarter points and didn’t let any one player hit more than two shots.
The Jazz were defensively sound, and had they made just a couple of their shots in the fourth, they could be looking at a win rather than a loss.
“We’re all competitive and we want to win every single night,” Hardy said. “But there’s nights that you can play poorly and win and there’s nights that you can execute what you want to, play the way you want to play, and things just don’t go your way.”
Bad shots in the fourth
I agree with Hardy for the most part, but I don’t think it’s all that fair to leave a loss without some criticism, and there are a few moments where I thought the Jazz could have made better decisions.
So, here are the shots I did not like from the fourth quarter.
First is a midrange jumper from Nickeil Alexander-Walker. I get that it’s hard to hate this shot because he fakes his defender, is wide open and he makes it, but as far as shot selection goes, it’s not the best.
I’d rather have him draw in the defense and kick it out to Lauri Markkanen or Malik Beasley. Later in the quarter, Rudy Gay makes a similar decision, and I don’t like that much either.
This next one though, is just awful.
Alexander-Walker misses Walker Kessler open under the basket and throws a cross-court pass to Rudy Gay.
OK, fine. Alexander-Walker had a taller defender on him, who was pretty close, and it all happened very fast. Not great, but not horrible.
But Rudy Gay was able to watch that unfold, and I feel like it’s impossible to not see Kessler wide open, jumping up and down in front of him.
Instead of passing to Kessler, or taking the wide open 3-pointer, Gay kind of pump fakes, hesitates and then takes a contested 3-pointer.
Gay honestly shouldn’t be taking a 3 anyway. Going into the night, he was shooting 22.4% from deep. I just don’t know how you miss Kessler there.
Here’s the thing though, that’s honestly about it. Maybe I would have preferred that the Jazz try to get a little more open on their Hail Mary attempts at the end, but at that point they’re trying to use as little clock as possible and it was Markkanen and Mike Conley taking the shots and no one is going to be mad at that.
Full Story from the Deseret News...