Game 58: Milwaukee Bucks ( 32-26 ) @ Utah Jazz ( 22-35 )

[FJS]

VS

Saturday, 28th February 2015
Salt Lake City, Utah
7:00 MWT
Energy Solutions Arena








- Pachulia - Ilyasova - Antetokounmpo - Middleton - Carter-Williams






- Gobert - Favors - Hayward - Ingles - Exum


KEY PLAYERS FROM THE BENCH


- Henson - Plumlee - Dudley - Ennis - Bayless



- Evans - Booker - Millsap - Hood - Burke

[FJS]

TEAM LEADERS:

PPG: G. Antetoukounmpo 12.0
RPG: G. Antetoukounmpo 6.6
APG: M. Carter-Williams 6.0
SPG: K. Middleton 1.55
BPG: J. Henson 1.9


PPG: G. Hayward 19.6
RPG: D. Favors 8.2
APG: T. Burke 4.6
SPG: G. Hayward 1.4
BPG: R. Gobert 2.3

[DiscoLives4ever]

I'll be pleased if we can finish the season playing .500 ball. I'll be excited if we do it with a +3.5 differential which would bring us positive for the year. I'd be ecstatic if we go 19-6 (a little over .750) and avoid a losing record for the year. And I will sacrifice my firstborn if we manage to get into the playoffs

[laika]

I'll be pleased if we can finish the season playing .500 ball. I'll be excited if we do it with a +3.5 differential which would bring us positive for the year. I'd be ecstatic if we go 19-6 (a little over .750) and avoid a losing record for the year. And I will sacrifice my firstborn if we manage to get into the playoffs

Your child is safe. It's impossible for us to make the playoffs.

I hope for just the opposite. We could be good enough next year that this is our last high draft pick for a while. We all know how difficult it is to get truly good free agents to sign here.
The Jazz need at least one more big piece to truly contend. Losing every game while somehow the core players don't develop bad habits would be the best case scenario for the rest of the season.

[KqWIN]

I'll be pleased if we can finish the season playing .500 ball. I'll be excited if we do it with a +3.5 differential which would bring us positive for the year. I'd be ecstatic if we go 19-6 (a little over .750) and avoid a losing record for the year. And I will sacrifice my firstborn if we manage to get into the playoffs

Your child is safe. It's impossible for us to make the playoffs.

I hope for just the opposite. We could be good enough next year that this is our last high draft pick for a while. We all know how difficult it is to get truly good free agents to sign here.
The Jazz need at least one more big piece to truly contend. Losing every game while somehow the core players don't develop bad habits would be the best case scenario for the rest of the season.

Like it or not, the Jazz are a .500 basketball team right now. They're 16-16 over their 32 games. That's a significant portion of the season and anyone who's watched them can tell that they're trending upwards. You can't have the higher draft pick and the player development. Best case scenario for me is that the Jazz continue to keep improving over the last quarter of the third of the season and carry that momentum into next season.

[dautjazz]

Best case is keep improving and get a great player in the draft this summer regardless

[HolyToledo12]

I really want the Jazz to win this one so they continue they roll but a loss makes us look like an inconsistent team.

[MHSL82]

Best case is keep improving and get a great player in the draft this summer regardless

Best case is like last year. We could have lost more games last year, but our guy fell to us anyway. Say what you will about Parker and Exum's development thus far, I think Exum was our guy all along.

0.01% of me wanted to pick Smart because he said that we weren't interested in him, even though we of course reached out to him for a workout. But that's me being passive aggressive, I guess. I'd rather have our guy and hope he pans out than getting another player that's more conventional for a team?

[JazzMatt13]

I will be satisfied once we get past last years winning record. According to what I was told, we were at same spot as last year at all-star break. So real progress is finishing of season strong, even if the 2nd half is easier.

Last year we were bottom of Division and Bottom of West. Right now, we are just outside the "bubble run", which is the bubble teams going after 8th spot, which is 5th worst, which is way better than last. We are also 3rd best in division. These are minor upgrades, but it will mean nothing unless we get 26 wins, which is only 4 wins away.

[KDBG]

Love him or hate him, Trey's been playing very well the last two games. Hopefully this isn't just another tease, and he really has turned a corner. He still sucks ass on the break and finishing though. But overall, pretty impressive play from him.

[BudTugly]

Utah has been winning the boards every game so far since Anes left.

[Joao Saraiva]

Elite defense, great effort! On to the next one!

I'm already excited about next season and this one isn't even over.

[JazzMatt13]

Burke and Millsap are the best back court this team has seen since the Dwil and Matthews days.

[StocktonShorts]

This was Burke's best game in recent memory. There's hope for him yet.

I love the defense the team is playing. Now imagine if they can keep this defense up and get pre-All-Star Break Hayward back...

[JazzMatt13]

This was Burke's best game in recent memory. There's hope for him yet.

I love the defense the team is playing. Now imagine if they can keep this defense up and get pre-All-Star Break Hayward back...

More like in last 8 games, this has been Burke's best gaming.

If Hayward was making his shots at 50-40-90 with his 18-20+ shots a game, these games would have been blow outs, rather than 4 FG's made, it would have been more like 8, and that type of scoring not only kills the other teams momentum, but add those points on any game, and were talking a whooping 8-10 points.


We play this slow meticulous game and even though we're not scoring 100 like a lot of winning teams, that doesn't matter, we are like Grizzlies, who can manage to keep people under 90, and when you can do that, scoring 95 a game doesn't seem so stupid. It is about winning margins.

We are 3-23 when other teams score 100 points. That is FREAKING INSANE, had we been normal, we would have been 13-13 minimum!!! 10 more wins this season, and Jazz would be ahead of Oklahoma City and we would be in Playoffs.


Really sit down and think about that, had Jazz held teams all 26 of those teams below 100, and won even 50% of the games, rather than 13% of them, Jazz would be in a playoff spot right now at 33 wins, with the rest the season to go.

[JazzMatt13]

To think, Synder could have had us in playoffs the very first year. When I think about it, it blows my mind, because almost 99% of fans would have never expected the team to be sooooo developed. I mean there isn't anything we need. Had we had our current setup all year, we would be playing .650 basketball or better, and our starting backcourt is the weakest offensive back court in the league.

Now imagine some more of this. Take what we have now, the current rotations, now give Exum something anything better than 5-2-2, and Ingles anything better than his 4-2-2 from the starting position. They both are only taking about 5 shots each and 20 minutes per game each. Imagine if Exum was playing like a real rookie starting PG, and getting something more like 10-5-3. 5 more points and 2 assists a game, is like 9+ more points a game we don't have.


What I find scary is, that this team is already looking like the best defensive team in the league, yet, if our guys were a little more experienced, we would be explosive at scoring. Just taking away all the inexperienced mistakes, and were talking like 105 a game instead of 95ish.


I am not even joking, go look up all NBA stats since February 7th, they are shocking to say the least: 6-2

Opp PPG: 85.9 #1 (closest is Bulls at 90). -I don't even know if that type of defense exists, not for a whole season, shocking.

Opp3pt%-30% #4 (Perimeter defense is finally here, and proves our guards can defend, thanks Millsap)

OppFG%-39% #1 (this proves that it isn't just our slower pace that inhibits teams from scoring)

OppREB-39.5 #2 (were taking all the rebounds)

You go look yourself, there is so much juice I love it.

http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/opponent/?sort=OPP_REB&dir=-1

[JazzMatt13]

We have actually been moving towards this new defensive team since 1/22 when Exum became starter:

Since 1/22: 9-7

Opp PPG = 90.9 (only one better is Grizzlies with 90.3)

However, we are scoring 95.8 ppg, and they have been scoring 95.3 pgg, so technically, Jazz are only .1 less in terms of winning margin, cause even if they hold teams .6 less, we are scoring .5 more per game.


People knew after Green came to Grizzlies how much of impact that made. Well looking back now, getting rid of Kanter is that impact. Which proves you can add by subtracting. I mean we were already trending before All-Star with the new line ups, which were obviously changed because of analytics. But had Kanter stayed, no way the defensive numbers would be as high, cause not only would Gobert not be starting, but Booker wouldn't be soaking up all those bench minutes.

[BudTugly]

Gobert and Exum bookending the D plus lil' Sap emerging has made a big difference. I still maintain Booker is a good player and a great fit here.

Actually I'm not sure anymore we need to add anything unless they need an end of bench center. Eli, Hood, Burks, Jingles and Gordon might be a good enough wing corps. Depends on how good Burks really is I suppose.

[BarneyGumble]

I was hard on Burke as were many earlier in the season but he has really responded well to his bench role and, frankly, I have trusted him with the ball more in the last 2 games then I've trusted Hayward.

Its a credit to how good Snyder is to put an important player in a position where he can be successful.

[Joao Saraiva]

To think, Synder could have had us in playoffs the very first year. When I think about it, it blows my mind, because almost 99% of fans would have never expected the team to be sooooo developed. I mean there isn't anything we need. Had we had our current setup all year, we would be playing .650 basketball or better, and our starting backcourt is the weakest offensive back court in the league.

Now imagine some more of this. Take what we have now, the current rotations, now give Exum something anything better than 5-2-2, and Ingles anything better than his 4-2-2 from the starting position. They both are only taking about 5 shots each and 20 minutes per game each. Imagine if Exum was playing like a real rookie starting PG, and getting something more like 10-5-3. 5 more points and 2 assists a game, is like 9+ more points a game we don't have.


What I find scary is, that this team is already looking like the best defensive team in the league, yet, if our guys were a little more experienced, we would be explosive at scoring. Just taking away all the inexperienced mistakes, and were talking like 105 a game instead of 95ish.


I am not even joking, go look up all NBA stats since February 7th, they are shocking to say the least: 6-2

Opp PPG: 85.9 #1 (closest is Bulls at 90). -I don't even know if that type of defense exists, not for a whole season, shocking.

Opp3pt%-30% #4 (Perimeter defense is finally here, and proves our guards can defend, thanks Millsap)

OppFG%-39% #1 (this proves that it isn't just our slower pace that inhibits teams from scoring)

OppREB-39.5 #2 (were taking all the rebounds)

You go look yourself, there is so much juice I love it.

http://stats.nba.com/league/team/#!/opponent/?sort=OPP_REB&dir=-1

I hope we can translate this into next season. It's really been impressive.