Lack Of Focus Dooms Jazz Against Shorthanded Rockets

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – With a new roster in tow, the Utah Jazz faced a shorthanded Houston Rockets at Vivint Smart Home Arena, but despite the dramatically different rosters, the Jazz fell to the familiar foe 126-117.

The Story

If their offseason additions were designed specifically to beat the Houston Rockets, the Jazz may be in trouble if they match up with the team that has eliminated them in back to back postseasons. Against a severely shorthanded Rockets team that was without James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Clint Capela, the Jazz struggles looked all too familiar against a defense that switches every screen on the perimeter and eliminates the effectiveness of Rudy Gobert by pulling him away from the rim. 

The Jazz ballhandlers couldn’t get downhill against the smaller Rockets defense, which prevented the team from getting into the paint and freeing Gobert for easy baskets. To make matters worse, the Jazz couldn’t find their outside shot, finishing the night just 12-42 from deep, the worst three-point shooting night from the team since December 19 against the Atlanta Hawks when the team shot just 25 percent from downtown. 

Defensively, the Jazz had no answers for the Rockets five-out offense that played without a true big man most of the night. Outside of six minutes from the seven-foot Isaiah Hartenstein, the tallest player the Rockets strolled out was former Jazzman Thabo Sefolosha at 6’6. 

Career-High 50 PTS for @TheofficialEG10! 🚀

🏀 50 PTS
➡️ 6 REB
✔️ W pic.twitter.com/3GzjQKrRXF

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 28, 2020

Rockets guard Eric Gordon scored a career-high 50 by repeatedly attacking the Jazz slower defenders off the dribble and either finishing at the basket or going to the free-throw line with Gobert stuck defending on the perimeter. When Gordon wasn’t blowing past the slower-footed defenders, he was knocking down three-point shots over Jazz defenders. Gordon did his damage on just 22 shots, 16 of which were makes, including 6-11 from three. 16 of Gordon’s points came from the free-throw line. 

The Jazz appeared totally flummoxed by a far less talented team and may have revealed a blueprint for how to attack them as the postseason grows nearer. 

The Game

It would be foolish to omit the overall strange nature of the game, and truthfully the entire day leading to the tipoff against the Rockets. 

During shootaround, instead of discussing the team’s preparation for the game, Jazz players and coaches were asked to share their memories of Kobe Bryant who passed away in a tragic helicopter crash Sunday morning. 

𝟐𝟒 & 𝟖 💜 pic.twitter.com/v1osFvMaQ0

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 28, 2020

The Jazz honored the Los Angeles Lakers star by committing a 24-second shot clock violation, honoring Bryant’s jersey number. The Rockets responded with an eight-second backcourt violation, honoring the number Bryant wore when he entered the league. The somber nature of the league’s great loss permeated throughout the arena. 

Whether the lack of focus for the Jazz had anything do with the fallout from the extenuating circumstances entering the night, or if the team was just overdue for a bad performance, there seemed to be a lack of focus from the team from start to finish. 

“We had just a lot of errors,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said, ”We didn’t handle the ball well at certain times, we didn’t make shots.”

TOUGH 😤 pic.twitter.com/nVPHgQOq3g

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 28, 2020

The Jazz committed 17 turnovers, many of them unforced leading to easy baskets in transition for the Rockets. Houston scored 18 fastbreak points on 8/10 shooting. 

Though Donovan Mitchell scored 36 points and Bojan Bogdanovic chipped in 30, the two combined for six turnovers on just six assists. 

Mike Conley continuing his rehab stint off the bench appeared to his touch attacking the rim, but like the rest of the team struggled with turnovers. Conley’s five giveaways matched his season-high in a Jazz uniform. The veteran guard finished with 10 points and four assists, but also added five fouls. 

🔥 @mconley10 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7V9pOkbCtO

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 28, 2020

“A lot of that I think were turnovers,” Conley said, “We were turning the ball over and they were getting out in transition and we were having to foul.”

The Rockets shot 49 free-throws, the league-high for any team this season thanks to a season-high 33 personal fouls from the Jazz. 

The Jazz were able to trim the Rockets lead to just six on several occasions in the second half, but couldn’t close the gap any further. 

The Big Picture

Perhaps more surprising than the Jazz dropping a game to the shorthanded Rockets was that this type of performance didn’t come sooner. Having won 19 of 21 games entering Monday night, the Jazz simply haven’t turned into a truly bad performance for more than 25 percent of the season. 

Mitchell didn’t seem overly concerned about the team’s uniquely bad outing. 

“There’s going to be games like this,” the third-year guard said, “But the big thing is how we respond. ”

Each of the Jazz last two losses came against players with career scoring nights. The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Jazz behind 49 points from Brandon Ingram and needed 50 from Gordon to put them away. While the Jazz could have done more to slow the two players down, occasionally the best basketball players in the world are going to get hot, and that is what happened in both of these instances. 

The Jazz dropped to 4th place in the Western Conference with the loss, but have an identical record to the Denver Nuggets who they will face Thursday night in Denver for the first time this season.

The Nuggets game is sandwiched between road games against the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night, and the final game of the three-game road trip against the Portland Trailblazers on Saturday.