What Is Happening With The Utah Jazz’s Defense?

After dominating the competition late last season, the vaunted defense of the Utah Jazz has left something to be desired recently.

Less than 24 hours after praising the Utah Jazz for being on the cusp of becoming something special, they decided to prove every good thing I had written about them wrong with an appalling performance against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder. In what should have been an intriguing match-up between the rising Jazz and the battle-tested Thunder, Durant’s return to the court proved too much for the Jazz who were absolutely devastated by a score of 111-89.

The Jazz have had bad quarters in a number of contests this year and the second quarter has particularly seemed to plague them. In Monday’s match-up against the Thunder, the Jazz once again posted a dismal second quarter performance in which they were outscored 40-26.

But this time, Utah wasn’t able to bounce back in the second half and rather than make a comeback, they were also outscored through the final two quarters of the game.

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The only positive takeaway from the game was that it wasn’t an accurate depiction of who the Jazz are or what they are becoming this year. Jazz fans can take comfort in knowing that this was just one bad game that doesn’t doom the season.

Even Quin Snyder made mention of the brutal travel schedule that the Jazz have had and acknowledged that while there are no excuses for Monday night’s poor showing, it at least provides some insight into why Utah appeared so flat

“We have been on the road a long time. This is basically another (road) game. I am not making excuses, but we flew and we play, we fly again, and we play. I don’t feel like we have had energy and focus that we need to have,” said Snyder following the game.

So while the game against the Thunder was disappointing and discouraging, it was by no means an omen saying that all is lost for the Jazz this season. One game in the loss category won’t sink the Jazz, however their recent and sudden defensive woes certainly could.

Last season, the Jazz finished with the best defense in the league in terms of opponent points per game, allowing an average of just 94.9. So far this season, they are still looking solid allowing even less than last year at 93.8 ppg, good for third in the league. However, in the Jazz’s last three losses, they have allowed an average of 105 points per game, which is a rate that would put them near the bottom five in the league.

When the Jazz have held their opponents under 100 points this season, they have won six of eight contests. However, their Jekyll and Hyde defense has been a main contributor to most of their losses. If the poor defensive trend continues, the Jazz’s top five defense will quickly be in jeopardy.

In the contest against the Thunder, the lackluster version of the Jazz defense was in full display. The Thunder shot a sizzling 54.5 percent from the field including 40.7 percent from deep. This comes as no surprise when looking at the kind of shots OKC was getting.

The Jazz might need to replace the rims at Vivint Smart Home Arena after the pounding they took against the Thunder who put on a dunk show against the weak Jazz defense.

“We got outplayed in every way tonight. It’s unacceptable. It’s embarrassing.” – Gordon Hayward

Particularly the transition defense was nothing short of appalling as the Jazz struggled to get back on D against a Thunder team that was playing in the second night of a back to back. Russell Westbrook‘s coast to coast drive and dish to Enes Kanter in the final four seconds of the first half pretty much summed up the entire night for the Jazz. You can see it at the 2:07 mark in the video below:

So what’s the deal with the Jazz defense? What is going on with a team that ended up being so stalwart on that end of the court last season and has similar tools to continue to do so this year? Certainly fatigue has played a role, but beyond that excuse, there are three main contributing factors.

“I feel like we could’ve played with a little more heart. At some point, we’ve got to get mad.” – Trevor Booker

First and perhaps foremost, the Jazz miss Dante Exum. That’s all there is to it. Opposing point guards have absolutely shredded up the Jazz defense. Damian Lillard lit up the Jazz for 35 points in the loss to Portland. But it’s not just current All-Star point guards who have given Utah trouble. Mo Williams for the Cavs, Tyler Johnson for the Heat, and most recently Deron Williams all had overwhelming success against the Jazz in recent match-ups.

Raul Neto has done an admirable job in his first year in the NBA, but in no way does he measure up to other starting point guards in the league. While Trey Burke has improved drastically on the offensive end (disregarding his miserable 3 of 12 outing on Monday night), his defense has not been nearly good enough to handle opponents’ guards.

Last season, Exum’s length and quickness proved to be extremely efficient against opposing point guards. The loss of his stopping ability is a main contributor to the Jazz’s recent disappointing defense.

The other issue that Utah faces is that while as a whole they have shown an exceptional ability to play team defense when everything is clicking, the Jazz severely lack an individual stopper. Players such as the Indiana Pacers’ Paul George, the Chicago Bulls’ Jimmy Butler, and the San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard have solidified themselves not only as potent offensive threats, but also as incredible individual defenders. It’s no surprise, then, that each of these teams consistently finishes among the elite in NBA defenses.

Therein resides a huge problem for the Jazz. Durant was able to shoot an incredible 10 for 13 in his first night back after missing time due to injury. Part of the reason for that is simply because Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant – a superstar that at times cannot be stopped –but what facilitated his easy scoring was the Jazz’s lack of a stopper who could match up against such an elite player.

Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks, and Rodney Hood all bring a lot to the table for the Jazz, but none of them stands a chance defending NBA elites such as Durant or LeBron James. In all honesty, it may be too daunting of a task for the Jazz to take the next step in the league without adding a lock-down stopper on defense.

Finally, while the Jazz arguably have one super defender in Rudy Gobert (although by no means is he a perimeter defender that would solve the issue of guarding opposing superstars), the Stifle Tower’s defense hasn’t been as awe-inspiring of late. Maybe DeMar DeRozan‘s recent posterizing of the Jazz big man has had an impact on his confidence, but whatever the case is, Gobert hasn’t looked as sharp protecting the rim.

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Despite averaging 2.7 blocks on the season, he’s had just one in the past two games. His rebounding has trended downwards since the start of the season and his plus-minus against the Thunder was minus-13. One of the more frustrating moments of the loss to the Thunder came after Gobert threw down an impressive dunk and gave, as Craig Bolerjack so emphatically exclaimed, “the first salute of the season.”

While the dunk was impressive, instead of getting back on defense, Gobert celebrated the bucket which left the rim wide open for the Thunder to respond right back with an easy basket.

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It’s possible (and Jazz fans should desperately hope) that Gobert’s struggles could simply be related to his recent ankle injury which he’s likely still trying to recover from as well as the back injury that he apparently sustained in the loss. Nevertheless, as Gobert’s defense goes, so goes the team defense. He’ll have to ramp up his intensity and effectiveness if the Jazz are to climb back to the top of the NBA defensive ratings.

So while Utah’s loss to Oklahoma City doesn’t mean all is lost, it certainly highlighted several of the Jazz’s weaknesses and will have to be a learning experience for them. In and of itself it was just one game, but if the exploited issues are left unchecked, it could very well result in the Jazz’s unraveling over the course of the season.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com/stats