Key #1 – Come Out with Energy
Ultimately it didn’t matter given that the Utah Jazz blew Maccabi Haifa out by 39 points, but the start of their second preseason game was absolutely ugly. The starters looked flat-footed, appeared discombobulated and struggled to score – the latter of which is obviously a major concern facing the Jazz this season.
Playing against a subpar opponent such as Haifa made for an easy recovery after struggling to get going early, but with an NBA team in the Phoenix Suns coming to town, the Jazz will need to look to establish a rhythm and set the tempo right away. As I already mentioned, the Suns are certainly considered a mediocre team by NBA standards, but a mediocre NBA team definitely will present more of a challenge than a mediocre Israeli League team.
.@Daanteee out here teaching a spin class. 🌪#MACatUTA https://t.co/ZkqjBVhSrJ
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 5, 2017
Therefore, it’s important that the Jazz come out with the mindset that this is going to be a much tougher game and to be mentally prepared to rise to the challenge. In both preseason games so far, they’ve had stretches of complacent and uninspired play, so they’ll need to look to eliminate that against Phoenix.
The “rehearsal” stage against lower-tier opponents is officially over and the Jazz need to come out ready to roll against a talented Suns team if they hope to move to 3-0 in preseason play.