Oct 29, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
We’re going to see this for a while yet: Quin Snyder’s new Utah Jazz system will jump out to an early lead, then get taken to school, like the Houston Rockets did tonight in the EnergySolutions Arena regular season opener, and Jeff Hornacek‘s Phoenix Suns did in Utah’s preseason finale.
The Jazz’s defense wasn’t spectacular to start, giving up 27 first quarter points, but the offense flowed nicely, Utah knotting it at 27 after one. Then Dante Exum and Rudy Gobert anchored the second quarter on defense, the Aussie at the perimeter and the big Frenchman keeping Dwight Howard from scoring in nearly nine minutes of play.
Enes Kanter again looked like a lost puppy on defense, often out of position not knowing where he should be. As a result, Trevor Booker played more minutes than Kanter putting up 14 points and pulling down five rebounds in 23 minutes. It might not be long before the big Turk is replaced in the starting lineup by the former Washington Wizard picked up in the offseason by Jazz brass as an energy scrapper.
Booker led the Jazz in +/- at +8. Exum was the only other Jazzman on the positive side of the stat.
Trevor Ariza, a Jazz killer in the past, had his way with Utah dropping 20 points on ten shots including 4-7 from three, and grabbed five rebounds for good measure.
His counterpart, Gordon Hayward, didn’t have a good shooting night going 3-11 from the floor, but did manage to post an 8/7/8 near triple-double line. Last season Hayward led the Jazz in field goals attempted per game at 13.4, followed by Alec Burks who took 12.8 per game.
For his part, Burks had 18 points on 11 shots, also going to the line for a game high-tied 5-6 from the free throw line (tied with James Harden). Burks also went 1-2 from three, a good sign after he made only one three in all of the Jazz’s eight preseason games combined. Harden would finish with an inefficient 18 points on 18 shots, but added seven rebounds and ten assists.
Snyder’s “play with the pass” wasn’t to be found much tonight, the Rockets bodying up early on the perimeter in the second half, disrupting the Jazz’s new offensive scheme badly, leaving the Utah youngsters floundering to find a shot. Houston won the dimes battle 18-16 over Utah.
Another bright spot for Utah was Trey Burke‘s aggressiveness going to the paint. Maligned for not getting to the line enough last season (1.6 times per game in 2013-14), he went 3-4 from the charity stripe this night, although he whiffed from the arc going 0-4 from three.
The Rockets had many open looks from three and buried 52% of them, going 14-27. Meanwhile, Snyder’s crew was a chilly 3-18 from three on the night.
Patrick Beverley left the game with a strained hamstring in the third quarter, not to return, leaving the Rockets with no backup point guard and Jason Terry filling in.
Fun Moments
• Aussie Boomers roomies Dante Exum and Joe Ingles were both on the floor at the same time, making their NBA regular season debuts together
• Rodney Hood also made his NBA debut tonight hitting his first shot, a three. Exum’s first NBA make was also a three. This pair were drafted last June in the first round by the Utah Jazz
• Derrick Favors was solid with 16 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl and four spectacular blocks, but played only 27 minutes due what Snyder termed foul trouble, although Favors finished with only four personal fouls and was pulled mid-third quarter when he picked up foul number three
Quin Snyder knows they give his guys six fouls in the NBA, right?
Both Hayward and Favors noted postgame that the Jazz’s defense broke down while Houston’s pressure defensively caused trouble for them in the second half after the Jazz jumped out to an early second quarter lead but went down 58-50 at halftime.
Snyder will need to learn to adjust to the adjustments opposing coaches throw at him after they get a hang of what the Jazz are trying to do early.