Utah Jazz: 3 studs and 1 dud from gutsy win over Hawks
Utah Jazz stud: Joe Ingles
Speaking of efficiency.
Joe Ingles almost literally could not miss last night. He finished the contest with 19 points on 7/9 shooting from the field and 5/6 shooting from three-point range.
A major advantage that Ingles brings to this Utah Jazz club is his malleability. He’s a solid secondary ball-handler who doesn’t demand substantial touches due to his ability to function as a floor-spacer. Last night, he leaned on the latter component of his game, allowing Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley to handle the bulk of the playmaking duty.
That decision paid off in a big way. The threat of Ingles’ hot three-point stroke necessitated defensive attention from the Hawks all evening, which created space for Conley and Clarkson to work. Ingles also bailed the Jazz out of a couple of otherwise-broken possessions with deep, unassisted, late-clock threes.
Ingles’ surname might as well be reliable. He’s not always going to shot 5/6 from three-point range, but he’s always a threat to, and that’s enough to keep the Jazz’s offense flowing.
Utah Jazz stud: Mike Conley
Unlike fellow studs Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles, Mike Conley did not shoot particularly efficiently in last night’s contest. He finished with 13 points on 5/13 shooting from the field and 3/9 shooting from three-point range.
That’s not horrific by any stretch, but nobody could claim that he was lighting it up, either. Luckily, his relative inefficiency only led the ever-heady floor general to lean on a different skill: his passing.
Conley dished out 11 dimes last night, and turned the ball over exactly once. Without Mitchell in the lineup, Conley was more frequently the primary ball-handler in Quin Snyder’s pick-and-spread offense, and he took advantage of his increased responsibilities.
If a Jazzman cut, Mike Conley found them. If an Atlanta Hawk dared to sag off of one of the Jazz’s plethora of shooters to pack the paint, that shooter received the ball on Conley’s watch. It was a masterclass in playing point guard, and a change of pace for a player averaging 4.4 assists per game on the year.
Between Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley, Utah Jazz fans saw that in the event of Donovan Mitchell’s absence, the Jazz will still have varied, quality guard play to lean on.