Key #3 – Limit Turnovers
It’s hard to knock a 39-point win, but one of the more discouraging aspects of Utah’s victory over Maccabi Haifa was all the turnovers that they committed. Against a less than staunch defense, the Jazz had several miscues as they turned the ball over 21 times. Part of this has to do with getting accustomed to one another on a new team and experimenting with different lineups that aren’t all that accustomed to playing with one another.
Nevertheless, it’s an item that absolutely has to be cleaned up against the Phoenix Suns. The Suns play at a relentless pace and are quick to get up and down the floor in an attempt to get easy baskets. They were one of the best in the league last year at turning turnovers into points as they were fourth in the NBA with 17.7 points off of turnovers per game.
In other words, get too turnover happy with the Suns and they will make you pay.
Ironically, though, the Suns were far from a defensive juggernaut last season as they finished dead last in the league in opponent points per game, despite being sixth in the league in steals. That would seem to indicate that Phoenix isn’t exactly pushing the issue on defense, but when an opponent makes a mistake, they are quick to capitalize.
A young team like Phoenix will absolutely rely on momentum to put them in the driver’s seat, so the Jazz can’t afford to give them any extra easy baskets by turning the ball over as they did against Haifa. If they hope to come away victorious in their first contest against an NBA team, they’ll need to strictly limit their giveaways.