Game 9: Milwaukee Bucks (6-2) @ Utah Jazz (5-3)

[mudsak]

Soooo....

The past 2 games... We beat Philly, and the Bucks, 2 of the best teams in the league...2 proper contenders. I honestly didn't think we would win either of these games. I think we had a chance against the Clippers last week as well. This team still looks messy at times, but their defensive effort keeps them in the games. I think when we see when both our offensive/defense are actually clicking at full capacity is exactly what was happening in the first half of this Bucks game. They were dominating on the defensive end and just executing on the offensive end... moving the ball, hitting shots, getting open looks... smooth/easy. It's amazing to see we finally have some guys to take the offensive pressure off of Mitchell. Mitchell sucked tonight, but Conley/Bogy crushed it. Excited to watch this team continue to gel and improve.

[KqWIN]

Soooo....

The past 2 games... We beat Philly, and the Bucks, 2 of the best teams in the league...2 proper contenders. I honestly didn't think we would win either of these games. I think we had a chance against the Clippers last week as well. This team still looks messy at times, but their defensive effort keeps them in the games. I think when we see when both our offensive/defense are actually clicking at full capacity is exactly what was happening in the first half of this Bucks game. They were dominating on the defensive end and just executing on the offensive end... moving the ball, hitting shots, getting open looks... smooth/easy. It's amazing to see we finally have some guys to take the offensive pressure off of Mitchell. Mitchell sucked tonight, but Conley/Bogy crushed it. Excited to watch this team continue to gel and improve.

That's the strange thing about this team. I can't really say I've felt that the Jazz have played well these past two games, but still two wins against good teams and 6-3 on the season. Part of me feels like we should have had all of those three games that we lost too. SAC was bad, LAC we blew a double digit lead, and LAL we played awful w/o Bogey.

We have good results, but I don't think we're playing at anywhere close to maximum right now. So much room to improve.

[stitches]

Soooo....

The past 2 games... We beat Philly, and the Bucks, 2 of the best teams in the league...2 proper contenders. I honestly didn't think we would win either of these games. I think we had a chance against the Clippers last week as well. This team still looks messy at times, but their defensive effort keeps them in the games. I think when we see when both our offensive/defense are actually clicking at full capacity is exactly what was happening in the first half of this Bucks game. They were dominating on the defensive end and just executing on the offensive end... moving the ball, hitting shots, getting open looks... smooth/easy. It's amazing to see we finally have some guys to take the offensive pressure off of Mitchell. Mitchell sucked tonight, but Conley/Bogy crushed it. Excited to watch this team continue to gel and improve.

That's the strange thing about this team. I can't really say I've felt that the Jazz have played well these past two games, but still two wins against good teams and 6-3 on the season. Part of me feels like we should have had all of those three games that we lost too. SAC was bad, LAC we blew a double digit lead, and LAL we played awful w/o Bogey.

We have good results, but I don't think we're playing at anywhere close to maximum right now. So much room to improve.

Yeah... the difference between this year and previous years is that we are actually pulling out some of those wins in the beginning of the year in games we don't really play particularly well. Pretty much every year of Quin's tenure, we've started slow. Part of it is the schedule but IMO it takes a bit of time for the players to get into consistent execution of what is somewhat complex system offensively. I still want to see much more 3s and shots at the rim, rather than long 2s but we've also played several teams that actually go out of their way to drop their big thus conceding and making you shoot the mid-ranger.

[mudsak]

Soooo....

The past 2 games... We beat Philly, and the Bucks, 2 of the best teams in the league...2 proper contenders. I honestly didn't think we would win either of these games. I think we had a chance against the Clippers last week as well. This team still looks messy at times, but their defensive effort keeps them in the games. I think when we see when both our offensive/defense are actually clicking at full capacity is exactly what was happening in the first half of this Bucks game. They were dominating on the defensive end and just executing on the offensive end... moving the ball, hitting shots, getting open looks... smooth/easy. It's amazing to see we finally have some guys to take the offensive pressure off of Mitchell. Mitchell sucked tonight, but Conley/Bogy crushed it. Excited to watch this team continue to gel and improve.

That's the strange thing about this team. I can't really say I've felt that the Jazz have played well these past two games, but still two wins against good teams and 6-3 on the season. Part of me feels like we should have had all of those three games that we lost too. SAC was bad, LAC we blew a double digit lead, and LAL we played awful w/o Bogey.

We have good results, but I don't think we're playing at anywhere close to maximum right now. So much room to improve.

Yeah... the difference between this year and previous years is that we are actually pulling out some of those wins in the beginning of the year in games we don't really play particularly well. Pretty much every year of Quin's tenure, we've started slow. Part of it is the schedule but IMO it takes a bit of time for the players to get into consistent execution of what is somewhat complex system offensively. I still want to see much more 3s and shots at the rim, rather than long 2s but we've also played several teams that actually go out of their way to drop their big thus conceding and making you shoot the mid-ranger.

Yeah... I think a really big part of our slow starts is because of the complex offensive system. It requires perfect execution, otherwise it doesn't flow...and if it's not flowing it causes a lot of turnovers. I think that's why this team has been known to just go cold for stretches over the last couple of years. The good news now is that we have a couple guys in addition to Mitchell who can get some buckets. Bogy is damn impressive. No hesitation with his game no matter where he is on the court, but he's a high IQ player and seems to make good choices. He kind of reminds me of Hayward, but with a wicked 3. He's pretty versatile. He was the perfect guy to sign for this team.

But overall think we're still pretty messy...lots of room for improvement. I think we'll get there. The defense has been pretty amazing for the most part. There were times during the Philly game that I was in awe of how amazing they were playing defense from a team standpoint. They were smothering. Royce is a dog... I think he's such an underrated guy in the league right now. He came up big numerous times tonight at both ends of the floor. Come play off time I think people are going to be like... who tf is Royce Oneil???... and why can't my star player score on this guy?! I hope Exum can come back and make an impact as well...yet another elite defensive menace to add to our rotation.

Lot's of little things that are promising as well. Tony Bradly is an NBA player. Dude can rebound, and he's got good hands... he's done a great job catching passes in really tight places and finishing with no hesitation. Stoked to see him get some minutes.

[stitches]

I'm watching the game now. Does Giannis EVER not push with his off arm in the paint? LIKE EVER? Elbows, forearms, full extension with the arm... and he never gets called on any of it. If I were a ref he wouldn't survive to the half only because of offensive fouls. This is ridiculous and it's not even subtle.

Bojan is awesome. It's amazing how quiet he seemed for most of the game and then you look at the boxscore and oh, he has 12 points. Then he heats up and racks up 20 more in an instant. He's a weird player to assess as the game is going, but you cannot argue with the effect he has on the games. What a tremendous signing. 2 games in a row now he's outplaying the players most Jazz fans wanted last summer in Harris and Middleton. I expected him to fit well but this is more than I expected. Also worth pointing out his interview after the game - he was asked about how come he's having such a good start to the season and he said the regular stuff about his teammates helping him and so on, but the last part he said was interesting - he said in INdiana they were not running stuff specifically for him and he said Quin is designing multiple sets specifically for him to end up in a shooting/finishing position.

Mitchell is having a bad game, but he still had some important stretches where he carried the offense that was struggling. We've moved from bad game being 3/24 to bad game being 8/22. He needs to rein in the turnovers though. He still gets caught midair without a clear option for a pass.

edit: I'm coming to the end of the game. I honestly think you guys were not very fair to Mitchell. He's making some great plays. There is a stretch with 4-5 minutes to go where he scores(and1), then creates 2 consecutive wide open corner 3s for O'Neale(make) and Conley (miss) and then he scores again a tough leaner that should have been called and 1 too. Now he did turn it over twice at the end but one of them was just a great defensive play by Hill. I don't think his boxscore reflects how well/poorly he played. He was consistently making the right plays down the stretch. I didn't mind his performance that much, with the TOs being really the biggest negative here.

[sipclip]

The inconsistency from Conley is just shocking. The guy has 19 points in the first half and 1 in the second half. He has pretty much only played 3 above average quarters all year and bad almost every other one. The 3rd quarter against the clips game at home and the 1st half last night are the only good ones I can remember.

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[KqWIN]

There are several players you can’t breathe on while defending. That’s super frustrating, but most of them are technically fouls. They’re just amazing at hating you and the refs.

Giannis is a whole different animal. He consistently fouls you and you get called for it 9/10 times. It’s crazy how much the refs let him use his forearm, elbow, and shoulders to move the defender out of the way.

Just imagine if the defensive player was able to give back the same amount of contact.

[stitches]

[Rauxcee]

There are several players you can’t breathe on while defending. That’s super frustrating, but most of them are technically fouls. They’re just amazing at hating you and the refs.

Giannis is a whole different animal. He consistently fouls you and you get called for it 9/10 times. It’s crazy how much the refs let him use his forearm, elbow, and shoulders to move the defender out of the way.

Just imagine if the defensive player was able to give back the same amount of contact.

The funny thing is Bucks fans think he gets fouled all the time and the refs disrespect him by not giving him the call. He pushes of, extends arms, lowers his shoulder and charges into people, and travels quite a bit and he get away with a lot.

Amazing player and I like him so it's less annoying than, say, Harden's game.

[Catchall]

While you're at it, maybe throw in Gordon Hayward, as another max wing.

[stitches]

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Beautiful! ^^^^^^^^^

[KqWIN]

There are several players you can’t breathe on while defending. That’s super frustrating, but most of them are technically fouls. They’re just amazing at hating you and the refs.

Giannis is a whole different animal. He consistently fouls you and you get called for it 9/10 times. It’s crazy how much the refs let him use his forearm, elbow, and shoulders to move the defender out of the way.

Just imagine if the defensive player was able to give back the same amount of contact.

The funny thing is Bucks fans think he gets fouled all the time and the refs disrespect him by not giving him the call. He pushes of, extends arms, lowers his shoulder and charges into people, and travels quite a bit and he get away with a lot.

Amazing player and I like him so it's less annoying than, say, Harden's game.

I feel the same. It’s less annoying because I can somewhat respect the bully ball even if it’s illegal. I don’t know why he’s allowed to do all of that. It’s hard enough to stop a 6’11 athletic freak without him shoving you out of the way.

[Crunch 99]

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[mudsak]

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Beautiful! ^^^^^^^^^

Dude... this tweet thread pretty much summarizes how I've felt watching the Jazz play the last couple of games. I don't think I've ever enjoyed watching a team play defense as much as this. It is amazing to watch. I think Royce is bigger anchor than we realize. Undrafted gem who's probably quietly becoming one of the best 3-D players in the entire league.