Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 127-86 loss to the Golden State Warriors from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. A completely lifeless offense

“That wasn’t pretty,” head coach Will Hardy said at the opening of tonight’s press conference.

Yeah, it wasn’t. Scoring 86 points (with an offensive rating of 83) is about as bad as offense can be in the modern NBA era. Hardy reported that his players felt like it was “just one of those nights”: missed free throws by Lauri Markkanen, missed three-point shots by Taylor Hendricks, Jordan Clarkson, Cody Williams and Collin Sexton, and even three missed dunks.

But Hardy wasn’t willing to accept that explanation, which is good. I don’t think it fits the description of what happened tonight. The Jazz were absolutely outgunned, physically outplayed and outplayed tonight, especially at the point of attack. When the Warriors brought their power to this game, the Jazz withered. You can accept the Jazz losing to a Warriors team due to a lower skill level. Because it’s simply too soft? It is more difficult to handle.

“Our team has to continue to find the mental part of this, push through the tough moments and not back down,” Hardy said.

The Jazz did just that on Wednesday, turning a 17-point deficit into a fourth-quarter lead before ultimately succumbing to missed free throws. However, in this situation it was a worse sign to let go of the rope completely.

Of course, mental strength is not enough: you also have to know how to respond when the physicality arises. Take this action if Jordan Clarkson is stuck at the top: he needs to pass the ball quickly, and, crucially, his teammates need to come and help him start the 4-on-3 that should result in points behind the trap.

We all expect the Jazz to lose a lot this year, but losses like Wednesday’s are acceptable, positive steps toward becoming a better team someday. Losses like Friday’s? These are steps backwards. We still have 80 games to determine if the Jazz are a nice team without enough skill and experience, or a bad team that will require roster-wide changes as they rebuild.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Golden State Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton (8) fights Utah Jazz forward John Collins (20) for possession of the ball during an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Salt Lake City.

Things were going pretty well for the Jazz during the first rotation of the game – then the subs came in. Six minutes later, the Jazz brought in Cody Williams and Brice Sensabaugh, and just over a minute later John Collins and Jordan Clarkson came in. .

That line-up conceded ten points in just over two minutes. The next 2:53 featured another six-point Warrior run. Suddenly a promising start turned into an impossibly fast self-dug hole.

Yes, it’s only two games. But even on paper, I have almost no reason to hope for positive things from that second lineup. The defensive drop-off from Walker Kessler to Collins simply can’t get any bigger, and he shares the floor with three or four other final defensemen — Brice Sensabaugh, Jordan Clarkson and Keyonte George — out there.

While you would hope to beat teams with that formation, the problem is that all of these players also score first – so you don’t benefit from the ball-movement synergy of the NBA’s best offensive formations. The result? Big losses.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz guard Collin Sexton (2) looks for an open teammate while playing the Golden State Warriors during an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Salt Lake City.

Given the makeup of the Jazz, I might try to make things a bit more diverse in the second group. While Collin Sexton isn’t a very good defensive player, he certainly brings more spark plug energy than anyone on the bench. I also wonder what playing Kyle Filipowski and his ball movement would do; at the very least it would help the development of “Flip”.

However, that setup only plays for a few minutes at a time. Then, thanks to Lauri Markkanen’s spread substitution, there is a third unit that should be a lot better, playing alongside the quarter breaks. It was largely that lineup that set the Jazz back in the second half against the Grizzlies on Wednesday, for example.

Look – it’s possible in this chaotic season that the poor formations are the point, and a few minutes per half outright punting may be the best way to lose games and still give development possession to the rest of the squad in the other 36 minutes . But when it comes to profits, I don’t think this current setup is ideal.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy during a game against the Golden State Warriors during an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Salt Lake City.

“It just tells me how the game went,” George said.

Did it ever. This missed dunk is definitely the first Shaqtin’ highlight reel of the season.

We all know these types of plays happen; they’re frustrating, but at least it couldn’t have happened in a situation that mattered less.

But what I’m a little concerned about with George is his ability to bounce back from bad play. We saw him compound his mistakes in the Jazz’s first game against the Grizzlies by following bad shots with other bad shots, simply forcing them instead of correcting them.

“I don’t think emotion is bad. I don’t think frustration is a bad thing. That’s very real, especially with young athletes, but I think there are times when your emotions take over, they run the show, and that’s not what we want,” Hardy said after George’s first match. “We can’t get so caught up in what’s already happened, or in the frustration or the anger, and my responsibility in that is to maybe point that out at different times, to give an outside perspective.”

George’s reaction to the missed dunk was another point: yes, the dunk was missed – but Kyle Filipowski was still right behind him to get the two points, as long as George got his mind back on the game! Instead, he hung on his mistake, hung on the rim and got a goaltending call.

He’s being hard on himself right now, with the same perfectionism that hurt Walker Kessler last year. Hopefully he can turn the tide before Kessler did.

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