Playoff Notes: Jazz Searching for Answers on Both Ends After G1 Loss

Mitchell and the Jazz need to find ways to slice through Houston’s pressure — and keep their shoes on. (Bob Levey via ESPN.com)

After a series-opening loss to the Houston Rockets, the Utah Jazz are looking for solutions and improvement as they head into game two, set for Wednesday night.  Many question marks arose following the 122-90 game-one devastation, so here is a collection of quotes, stats and notes that point to different things to look for in the second tilt in this first-round playoff series. 

Defensive game plan: schematic or execution issue?

They say defense wins championships, but we’ll soon see as it’s the #2 ranked offense in the NBA versus the #2 ranked defense. If Sunday was the indicator, the defense got trumped. 

Prior to the game, Royce O’Neale spoke about guarding reigning MVP James Harden. O’Neale could be considered an ideal candidate to defend Harden with the length, strength, speed, and size and could become a valuable asset for the Jazz this series with that assignment. O’Neale said, “Drawing fouls and his step-back game are what he’s good at, so you just have to make it hard for him, make things uncomfortable for him.” Then conceding, he added, “you can’t stop everything but you can take away a lot of stuff.”

Twitter was ablaze Sunday night in frustration with the Jazz’s game-plan in guarding James Harden on his left hip in the hopes they’d force him right and make him uncomfortable as O’Neale said.  He’s arguably the best offensive player in the league and is most effective when going to his left, especially when it comes to his step-back game. Somehow, the Jazz needed to slow him down and this was the game-plan to do so. 

However, at halftime of game one, TNT analyst Kenny Smith noted the Jazz weren’t forcing Harden right, they were giving Harden right. At times, the game-plan looked like this: 

We successfully made it so Harden can’t get behind himself, but can get anywhere else in the Green… sooooo… that’s something. pic.twitter.com/hexn1jptW1

— Spencer Wixom (@Spencer_Wixom) April 15, 2019

By giving Harden the right, he had clear lanes to the hoop where Rudy Gobert was confronted with a split-second decision and dilemma: stay near the hoop to protect a lob or pop out on Harden to take away the floater? He trusted his teammates and the scheme by coming out on Harden, but teammates failed to rotate properly or quickly enough as Clint Capela found handfuls of easy lobs or drops, and when the help did come in from the sides, P.J. Tucker was wide open in the corner for one kick-out three after another.

Was this game plan intentional? Yes. Did the team just execute it poorly? Also yes. 

Reporters asked Jazz coach Quin Snyder these questions immediately following the Sunday loss. While reading between the lines, Snyder didn’t specify if it was an execution error or Gobert’s fault, but he did allude that his players had too many breakdowns in carrying out his defensive philosophy. In Snyder’s words:

A lot of things we need to do better, and one of them is how we protect the rim. Rudy will be better, but it wasn’t just Rudy… Gobert can’t be in both places… If you give up a dunk, it feels a certain way. If you give up a three, it feels a certain way. We had some breakdowns in the half-court, no question.

Then, simply, he said, “We didn’t play well.” And perhaps it is that simple. They had a plan, they didn’t implement it to the best of their abilities, and so the next rodeo they’ll need to perform better. But, take note, they are sticking to this. Ricky Rubio addressed this scheme specifically: 

We’ve got to make it tough for one of the best players in the league, and he’s a great scorer. We have to get to know the game plan better. As the series goes on, we’re going to get better, we’re going to make adjustments. We have one of the best if not the best coach making adjustments… In the second half we did a better job, and game 2 we’ll do a better job. It’s tough. It works on some occasions and some not. We can’t just give up on what we think and what we believe.

In theory, the plan could work. As Dan Clayton explained on the Sharp Notes podcast with Ben Dowsett, the idea is that a guard is on Harden’s hip breathing down on him. Then, when Harden gets to the paint he should feel like he is between a rock and a hard place – the rock being Rubio whispering sweet nothings and the hard place being a Stifle Tower in front of him. 

That wasn’t precisely the case on Sunday night, but could it be improved upon? Clayton asks in that podcast, was Sunday the Jazz’s best shot? Are they demoralized after playing their best but still coming up short? The answers are no. As Rubio stated above, they’ll do a better job as they know the game plan better. They won’t just give up. 

Shooting woes on the other end

Defense wasn’t the only place Utah could perform better. Here are some other areas to consider: 

• Per David Locke, Sunday night was the 6th worst shooting performance for the Jazz all season. He also notes that the 3rd and 8th worst were also against the Rockets. 
• Eric Gordon did a really good job on Donovan Mitchell. Gordon guarded Mitchell on 34 possessions and gave up only 2 points on 1/5 shooting. Mitchell finished the game with five turnovers, three of which occurred while Gordon was defending him.
• Speaking of Mitchell, he had zero assists. A number that bothered him. After the game, he said, “It’s one game and you have to learn from it, but I can’t have no assists and five turnovers.” Regarding the TOs he added, “if you get five turnovers, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and figure out how to adjust.” 
• Joe Ingles was hardly jinglin’; he had three points on four shots.
• The Jazz played all 12 guys. Some, admittedly, were due to the 4th quarter blowout but nine were used in the 1st quarter alone. That type of rotation is uncommon in playoff basketball, but the Jazz were trying to find the right personnel and combination to make things work (especially in regards to that defensive scheme mentioned previously). When the Jazz bench is good, the Jazz are good, too. That was not the case Sunday with Jae Crowder the most glaring example. Crowder was 1-9 from the field, including 1-7 from three.
• Despite a size advantage, the Jazz were outscored 62-42 in the paint.
• The Jazz committed 19 turnovers that led to 24 Houston points.

An idea: running

On Zach Lowe’s playoff preview podcast, he brought up early offense, which is usually not a Jazz strategy. He notes that the Jazz aren’t built to run, nor have they been known to do so this regular season. However, he suggested they turn Houston misses into transition opportunities given the Rockets usually have their team in the paint or at least inside the three-line.

It’s sound advice: take a miss at the rim, outlet to a guard, and go. 

At the start of the 3rd quarter in game one, the Jazz rallied in part because they ran. All game, in fact, Rubio made a point to push the ball and get into the lane. In the first quarter, he got off to a quick start with six points and two assists in the first six minutes of the game because he was going quick and challenging Clint Capela. Mitchell and other wings, on the other hand, did the complete opposite. Thus, as the lead extended it seemed the pace was getting out of the Jazz’s reach and they were struggling to even keep up. The style of play became hectic as they were down and trying to catch up. Then, down 59-44 to start the third stanza, the Jazz went 17-7 to pull within five. The catalyst, again, was Rubio bringing the ball up quickly and setting Gobert up for lobs or taking the ball to the cup himself. Kevin McHale, calling the game for TNT, noted the Jazz were having success when scoring early in the shot clock. It was for only a fraction of the game, but it worked. 

It does seem as if that would be feeding right into Houston’s hand as they like to go fast and score, too, but Houston held a 95-77 field goal attempt discrepancy in part because of their pace. Granted the Jazz gave possessions up with their turnovers, but more shots on your hoop certainly wouldn’t hurt as the Jazz try to make this a competitive series. 

Too Much to Process: Just More Bullet Points

• Snyder points out the importance of the Jazz making free throws in this series. He points out they’ve shot more free throws than any other team in games against Houston so those free throw points add up and can become a difference-maker. He said, “we have to control the things we can control.” Free throws are those things. In game one, the Jazz surprisingly doubled the Rockets in this regard. The Jazz went 23-27 from the line while the Rox were 11-12.
• Two years ago the Jazz beat the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs. That LA team was led by All-Stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, yet the Jazz focused their efforts on limiting sharp-shooter JJ Reddick. He was the plug that led to an offensive avalanche for that team as he would get beyond the arc and let it rain. If you remember, Joe Ingles hounded him each and every night and it suffocated that Clipper offense. I wonder if what the Rockets did to Joe Ingles on Sunday acted in a similar way. By taking Ingles out of the game (1-4 from the field, five assists), the Jazz were without both a shooter and playmaker. It was Ingles who had been facilitating the second-half of the season and acting as an integral part to the offensive system. Without him on Sunday, it was a heavier burden on everyone else and the shots were hard to come by, the rhythm was off, and the points were sparse. Ingles may not be Utah’s most valuable player, but he could be the most important.
• At minus-20 on the court, Mitchell needs to play better. After reviewing film and having practice time, the message to DM45 should be clear: go play your ball. If he just plays better, the Jazz will be in a better position as a team. With all the Xs and Os on clipboards, sometimes you just need your best player to play like he’s your best player. 

As you know, game two is Wednesday night, tipping off on TNT at 7:30 MT.