Veteran Warriors Outshine Inexperienced Jazz
Oct 25, 2024, 10:55 PM | Updated: Oct 26, 2024, 1:11 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz fell to 0-2 on the season after being blown out by the Golden State Warriors 127-86.
The Jazz were led by John Collins who scored 14 points off the bench.
Buddy Hield led the Warriors with 27 points.
A Brutal Shooting Night For Jazz Against Warriors
The Jazz had one of the worst shooting nights in team history, connecting on 29-92 field goal attempts, or .315 percent.
The franchise is 0-13 all-time when shooting that poorly, and it’s their worst outing since December 2018.
“It did feel like one of those nights where, for whatever the reason, or reasons are, we couldn’t make a shot,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
Tonight’s .315 shooting is tied for the 12th-worst shooting night in Jazz history.
Jazz are 0-13 in games shooting .315 or worse.
Last did it December 15, 2018 against the Orlando Magic in Mexico City.
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) October 26, 2024
The Jazz shot poorly everywhere, in every situation.
The team connected on just 9-42 three-point attempts, or 21 percent, and went scoreless on fastbreaks.
Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen both missed open dunks, contributing to the team’s 0-9 outing in transition.
“As much as I wish that they weren’t human at certain times, they are, and that becomes deflating,” Hardy said of the Jazz’s poor shooting night.
George had another rough shooting night after Tuesday’s 3-18 showing. The second-year guard connected on 4-12 attempts, though he did shoot 3-8 from the three-point line.
Oh no Keyonte… not the wide open missed dunk, and the goaltending turnover cause he hung on the rim 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/3IWPzJjBEy
— Jazz Lead (@JazzLead) October 26, 2024
Markkanen was the team’s worst offender, shooting 4-17 from the floor, his second-worst shooting night in a Jazz uniform.
“They were physical with us, and that is, I think, the toughest part,” Markkanen said. “Not just going tough to the rim or whatever, but fighting for your catch so you don’t catch it outside of the three-point-line.”
Markkanen finished the night 1-5 from three, and just 4-7 from the free-throw line.
Jazz Depth Has Struggled To Open Season
Though it’s early in the season, a pattern is beginning to emerge among Hardy’s lineups.
The starters are clicking. The bench is not.
In the season opener, the Jazz and Grizzlies were tied at 14 before Hardy made his first substitution.
Against Golden State, the Jazz led 15-6 before mixing in second-unit players.
“I think that they’ve come out with a collective energy,” Hardy said of his starters, “but they’ve also come out of the gates in these games very much in tune with the game plan.”
But after going to his bench, both games went south in a hurry.
The Grizzlies outscored the Jazz by six points over the final seven minutes of the first quarter, while the Warriors outshined the Jazz 26-9 over the final 6:27 of the frame.
The @utahjazz opened the game on a 15-6 run, but were outscored 26-9 to close the quarter.
After one, the Jazz trail the @warriors 32-24. #takenote pic.twitter.com/ovfhygMeEK
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 26, 2024
Last season, Hardy balanced the rotation after their 2-7 start by mixing and matching his veterans across the lineups.
In December, Collin Sexton was inserted into the starting lineup, and when paired with a healthy Lauri Markkanen, the Jazz rattled off 15 wins over their next 19 contests.
This season, it might not be so easy.
Sure, Hardy could move one of Jordan Clarkson or John Collins into the starting lineup, but it would come at the expense of either Keyonte George, Sexton, or Walker Kessler.
George and Kessler are two players the Jazz hope to develop into longtime cornerstones on the roster. Sexton, meanwhile, has played his best basketball as a starter.
Last season the 25-year-old guard averaged 21.1 points and 5.6 assists while starting, but dipped to 14.1 points and 3.6 assists as a reserve.
Hardy could swap last year’s lottery pick with this year’s, moving Taylor Hendricks out of the starting lineup in favor of Cody Williams, but Hendricks has shown promise this season when playing with the top unit.
“Taylor hasn’t played a ton with that group, but he’s fitting in really, really well because of his understanding of his role,” Hardy said.
please enjoy Cody William’s first ever NBA bucket 🥹🫶#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/mSgVbSZddX
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 26, 2024
The issue seems to be a lack of experienced players to which Hardy can turn, and that may be by design.
After trading Kelly Olynyk and Simone Fontecchio at last year’s trade deadline, the Jazz did little this offseason to replace their production.
The team signed veterans Drew Eubanks and Svi Mykhailiuk, but the duo has combined for six minutes of play over the first two games.
“The second group is a group of guys that hasn’t played very much basketball together,” Hardy noted, “So they’re working through some of the kinks.”
Before the season started, the Jazz brain trust stressed that they were committed to developing their young players and that patience would be required.
As they’ve shown through two games, the commitment is real. So is the need for patience.
Can Jazz Teach The Warriors Random Shooting?
Before the game, Hardy discussed what makes Warriors shooters Steph Curry and Buddy Hield so difficult to guard.
“If you were to do like a Map Quest of Steph Curry — follow his path in a game, it’s got to be the most random of any player in the league,” Hardy said. “It’s what makes him — one of the reasons that he is impossible to guard.”
While most teams run precise plays to create open windows for their shooters, Curry and Hield find their own windows with unpredictable movement.
Buddy from beyond the arc
👌 x six
📺 @NBCSAuthentic pic.twitter.com/WfORMcL3Bh
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 26, 2024
With the league becoming more reliant on the three-point shot by the day, the question becomes, can you teach randomness?
“You can try,” Hardy said, “there are ways you can do it.”
However, the Jazz coach warned of the dangers of relying on unpredictability.
“When you have one or two players that have the freedom to move with that type of randomness you’re building in a lot of concepts behind it, and so it would change your team’s style of play,” Hardy said.
Ultimately, the Jazz coach surmised that randomness may be more nature than nurture,
“I think that the randomness of movement can be taught, but it’s also an instinct thing. That’s how you see the game. We’ve talked before about the best players in our league all play a little differently,” Hardy said. “That’s what makes it great.”
Utah Jazz Next Broadcast
The Jazz will travel to face the Dallas Mavericks at 6:30 p.m. MST on Monday. The game will be televised on KJZZ, streamed on Jazz+, and heard on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone.
Are you on Threads yet? Let’s connect, give us a follow @kslsports.
Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops or on Instagram @BensHoops.
