Utah Jazz: 3 keys to defeating the Atlanta Hawks
Utah Jazz Key #3: Contain Trae Young
Rhetorical questions: have jokes about Captain Obvious become too obvious to make?
When analysts discuss the concept of a “heliocentric offense”, the Atlanta Hawks make for an interesting point of contention. On the one hand, this is a deep team that rosters several credible shot creators. On the other hand, they still live and die with mercurial point guard Trae Young.
In the previous matchup between these two squads, Young was solid, but he hardly turned in a career performance. He finished with 21 points and 7 assists while shooting 8/20 from the field and 0/4 from deep. The Utah Jazz would live with a repeat performance in tonight’s contest.
In the game prior, the Jazz primarily relied on Mike Conley to hassle Young to the best of his ability, leaving their best perimeter defender, Royce O’Neale, to function more as a free safety, cutting off Young’s passing lanes. Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert was parked in the paint to greet Young on the majority of his crafty drives to the basket. Quin Snyder should deploy a similar defensive strategy against Young in this contest.
It may be impossible to stop a guard with Young’s talent, but if the Jazzmen can minimize his impact as well as they did in their prior contest with the Hawks, they’ll have a good shot at coming away with another victory.
Next. One trade to improve the Jazz's title odds. dark
The Utah Jazz need to enter this contest with a burning desire to avoid a third consecutive loss. If they can shoot efficiently, force turnovers, and contain Trae Young, they’ll have a great chance to do exactly that.