Although it was one of their worst losses of the season, the Utah Jazz’s latest setback against the Atlanta Hawks should provide a necessary wake-up call.
If you’re a person who plays basketball or watches the NBA with any level of regularity, “heat checks” are a concept you’re well familiar with. For the uninitiated, a heat check occurs when a player who’s on a roll, knocking down shots left and right, throws up one more to see if they’re still rolling. If the shot misfires, it’s probably time to regroup, re-evaluate and attack things differently.
On Tuesday night, the Utah Jazz had their own heat check moment against the Atlanta Hawks.
The game was about as bad a misfire as they’ve had all season. With a chance to win their 10th straight game, the Jazz were instead taken out of their element by one of the NBA’s most woeful squads; for the second time this season, no less.
Now, they suddenly find themselves in the No. 8 spot in their conference. Before the game, they had been knocking on the door of the West’s top four.
That’s not a good look, to be sure, but the loss could provide the team with the wake-up call it needs to re-commit to the process and keep their edge in the playoff race.
When the Jazz lost to the Hawks in Atlanta in January, it felt like the final nail in the coffin for a season that had essentially been lost. The Jazz were as close to a top lottery pick as they were to the playoffs at that point and injuries had laid waste to their lineup.
But instead of closing up shop and joining the tankathon, the team flipped a switch. As a group, they decided enough was a enough and it was time for a change. The result of that rededication was an 11-game win streak. That was followed in short order by the recent nine-game run.
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Now, I don’t claim to know all the ins and outs of the Jazz locker room, but I do know this: sustained success can breed complacency or a lack of focus. In other words, when things get easier, human nature kicks in — maybe you take a breath and rest on your laurels a bit. You get that feeling that you’ve arrived.
But in the NBA, you’ve never truly arrived. Not until you’re hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy, anyway. And while we can debate whether or not the Hawks loss was impacted by complacency, there’s no denying the fact that Utah’s focus was lacking at times.
It was apparent in the team’s 6-for-34 performance from 3-point range. Also — their 16 turnovers, Rudy Gobert‘s responding to getting held and grabbed on one end with offensive fouls and violations on the other, as well as Ricky Rubio‘s subpar defense against Dennis Schroder.
Donovan Mitchell‘s jacking up 28 shots (and missing the brunt of them) and the team’s dreadful defense down the stretch go without saying.
The bottom line here is that sometimes in life, you have to take a step back to take two forward. The Hawks game was that step back; the “Wake up!” moment that likely reminded the Jazz that there’s still work to be done.
If the Hawks game taught us anything, it’s that. The sky isn’t falling now, but it still can if the Jazz let it.
Given how they responded in January, I’d expect that this fact is now firmly etched in their brains.
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On Thursday, the Jazz will hop back onto the saddle for a bout with the Dallas Mavericks, another team battling for draft position. Cellar-dwelling though they may be, however, look for the Jazz to put their best foot forward.
They just saw what can happen if they don’t.