Expected Utah Jazz defensive adjustments for Game 3 against Mavs

The Utah Jazz can’t afford to give the Dallas Mavericks so many open looks.

On Monday night, the Utah Jazz lost a hard-fought Game 2 against the undermanned Dallas Mavericks.

Despite the Mavericks’ homecourt advantage, the Jazz seemed to enter with a slight edge as young Dallas star forward Luka Doncic missed his second straight game in the first-round series. But career performances from Jalen Brunson and Maxi Kleber spurred the Mavericks to tie the series at 1-1 by handing the Jazz a 110-104 loss.

While this game was a disappointment for the Jazz, they could retake command of the series as they come home to Salt Lake City for the next two games.

However, for that to happen, the Utah Jazz will need more than a change of scenery. They’ll need a change in tactics.

Here’s what we can expect to see from the Jazz in Game 3…

A change in Utah Jazz’s defensive philosophy

So far, we’ve seen the Jazz use Rudy Gobert to guard the paint by helping off of his man on defense. This worked well in Game 1 as the two players he spent the majority of the game guarding, Maxi Kleber and Josh Green, shot a combined 2-for-11 from the field.

This strategy didn’t prove to be so effective in Game 2, though, as Kleber made the Jazz pay by hitting an astonishing eight of his 11 attempts beyond the arc. Kleber’s red-hot shooting seemed like a deja vu of last year’s Western Conference Semifinals, where Los Angeles Clippers wing Terance Mann went off for 39 points to eliminate the Jazz from the playoffs.

Luckily, head coach Quin Snyder still has time to adapt to Dallas’ small-ball lineup. For the Jazz to be able to bounce back, you can expect two defensive changes.

The first is that Gobert will need to stop helping off his man. While it’s not likely that the Mavs shoot 46.8 percent from three again, the Jazz can’t afford to give up so many wide-open looks in Game 3. Especially now that Kleber has regained his confidence from behind the arc, Gobert will need to trust in Utah’s perimeter defenders to get stops without his help defense.

The other defensive adjustment the Jazz could make is to increase Danuel House Jr.’s minutes. So far, he’s been hovering around 20 minutes a game in the series, but he’s proven to be one of the few solid perimeter defenders on the team.

Dallas guard Jalen Brunson was able to get to the basket at will in Game 2, hence his career-high 41 points. Putting a bigger wing like House on Brunson could limit his effectiveness inside the 3-point line.

With reports surfacing that Luka Doncic could be available to play in Game 3, the Jazz will have to prepare for the worst. Whether Doncic plays or not, Utah’s defensive adjustments should be the same: stop guards from getting to the rim with ease and limit open threes.

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