Utah Jazz: Three takeaways from the seventh straight victory
By Caleb Manser
Quin Snyder coaches the full 48
I’ve noticed other coaches around the league tend to put the game on cruise control in games like last night. They empty their bench and let their mop-up crew have all the freedom in the world to play garbage time basketball.
Quin Snyder was able to empty his bench by the end of it all, but he didn’t allow the Knicks to come back into the game. He’s learned from previous games that no lead can be considered safe in the NBA until you’re in the final seconds.
In the game versus the Milwaukee Bucks, the Jazz led by double digits at halftime and Giannis Antetokounmpo was ice cold. But that didn’t stop the Bucks from storming back and nearly taking the game if it wasn’t for a Bogey buzzer beater.
There’s countless other examples, like the home game against the Orlando Magic where Utah was up by 18 in the third quarter. The Magic massacred the Jazz’s second unit in the early part of the fourth quarter and took the lead back for a minute or two, and Utah had to play their starters extensive minutes just to get what should have been an easy victory.
Every time the Knicks even built up a little momentum in the second half, Snyder would call a timeout to whip the Jazz into shape. There were times when they got a little trigger happy with the three point shot, and Niang and Jordan Clarkson were just miss after miss.
There were times when the transition defense got a little sloppy, or the Knicks would get a wide open look off a screen, but every time they started churning Snyder would make adjustments. Yet despite the full effort the Jazz gave until the final buzzer, the starters were able to get some rest at the very end.
No Jazz starter (or player for that matter) played for 30 minutes or longer. Ed Davis got his first minutes on the court in a long time, as did Juwan Morgan and Nigel Williams-Goss. This was critical as the Jazz are in the midst of a grueling week, playing every other day. They may not even hold practice today just so they can rest up for Charlotte on Friday.