Key #2 – Find Offensive Rhythm
In the latest episode of the Three-Point Threat Podcast, I expressed to my J-Notes colleague Ryan Aston that one of the more surprising elements of Utah’s play in their first week of action was their better-than-expected offense. Particularly in the win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Jazz seemed to be firing on all cylinders, using a balanced offensive attack to take the victory.
However, in last night’s loss to LA, for the better part of the game and particularly in a hapless third quarter, the Utah Jazz simply could not find any rhythm offensively. Part of that is due to the Clippers’ staunch defense. But an even bigger part is because the Jazz are still working out some kinks in their offense with several new faces and the absence of Dante Exum from the second unit.
Quin Snyder said the offense for the Jazz this year was designed to fit the strengths of Ricky Rubio (and Dante Exum pre-injury). pic.twitter.com/FnqhIZL1UF
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) October 24, 2017
Thus, more than anything, the Jazz simply need to continue to build confidence and familiarity on the offensive end and find some semblance of a consistent rhythm with one another that they can rely on night after night. They clearly didn’t have that rhythm in the loss to LA, so hopefully they can find it against an inferior Phoenix team and build off of that to improve moving forward.
We all knew that Utah’s offense was going to be their biggest question mark this season, so it should come as little surprise that they had some struggles against LA. Nevertheless, we should see major improvement on that end of the floor against a lackluster Phoenix team tonight.