Jazz Use Game Against Depleted Warriors to Work on Chemistry

Utah’s backcourt duo helped the club to a third straight win (Noah Graham via utahjazz.com)

After a couple emotional wins for the Jazz, Monday’s matchup with the injury-depleted Golden State Warriors could have easily been a letdown. Instead, the Jazz came out looking crisp and making sure they handled their business against the now 2-9 Warriors. Utah improved to 7-3 with a 122-108 win.

Although most of this game sat between a 10-15 point lead for the Jazz, the first quarter was much tighter thanks to the hot hand of D’Angelo Russell, who at one point scored 16 straight points for the hosts. In consecutive plays, the Jazz threw Mike Conley, Joe Ingles and Royce O’Neale at Russell to try and slow him down. The slow down only happened after Russell hit 4 straight threes and O’Neale played exceptional denial defense.

By the second quarter, Russell had cooled and the Jazz were rolling. Rudy Gobert had his way all night long against the likes of Willie Cauley-Stein and Draymond Green. In this sense, this game was the perfect opportunity for Conley and Gobert to work on their pick-and-roll chemistry. Until last night, Gobert had complained about not getting enough touches on offense. He didn’t purely mean that he wasn’t scoring enough, but that when the offense runs through him (not just screen assists), the blender that is the Jazz offense runs more efficiently.

Conley and Gobert spent Monday evening illustrating how it could work, constantly putting Cauley-Stein in the pick-and-roll and forcing him to make a decision. It was beautiful execution that Conley has been struggling with thus far. Clearly the adjustment to a new team and a rim rolling presence like Gobert takes time. The first 20 games with Ricky Rubio were not pretty either. Rubio struggled mightily with turnovers and didn’t have the ability to shoot well enough to help the Jazz win games. This is not the case with Conley. Mountain Mike is looking more comfortable with every game and the Jazz are still winning games in the process.

The backcourt duo of Conley and Mitchell was stellar. They combined for 45 points, 13 assists, 9 rebounds and 10 threes. Conley was extremely efficient, shooting 54% and dishing 7 assists. Games against bad teams can be a great opportunity for guys like Conley to get game time reps in the Jazz intricate offensive system.

An injury-plagued Warriors team is obviously not the best team to critique the Utah Jazz future. But in each of the recent games, the Jazz have shown glimpses of greatness. Bojan Bogdanovic was just 4-of-15 from the field scoring 12 points after his emotional game winner Friday night. This did not disrupt the Jazz as Gobert, Mitchell and Conley each had 20 plus points and a total of 7 players scored in double figures. This is the beauty of this Jazz team. Balanced scoring and multiple options for significant amounts of offense.

It would seem that the new additions to the Jazz this season are becoming more comfortable in the system and that it is happening faster than some may have thought. When this Jazz team starts stringing together full games of efficient play, not turning the ball over, they will truly be a title contender. And we shouldn’t forget that Dante Exum will also be returning soon. A long, athletic guard such as Exum will bolster the defense and add a touch of speed to the offense. Jazz fans should be very pleased with the way this team has come together to this point. This is just the beginning to a very good season for Utah.