Jazz HC Sends Message to Doubters After Dropping Two Straight
The Utah Jazz dropped their second straight game on Sunday night, falling to Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-98. It was a frustrating game as the Jazz struggled defensively once again, while also allowing the opponent to feast on takeaways.
Philadelphia had 12 steals and a whopping 14 blocked shots, led by Embiid's seven, which dove-tailed quite nicely with his *checks notes* 59 points. He lived in the paint and at the foul line, where he finished 20-for-24.
"I would have liked to have seen us do a little bit better job on the ball, not getting beat with the first dribble," Jazz head coach Will Hardy said post-game. "And then, I think, when you come to help, you've got to keep your hands out. He's a master at drawing fouls. He does the sweep-through very, very well. And when you play the fourth quarter of an NBA game in the bonus for the majority of it, defense is very hard, especially against a physical player like that."
Utah's leading scorer was Malik Beasley off the bench with 18 points. It was that kind of night. It's no coincidence that the Jazz lost on back-to-back nights, as the starting lineup failed to meet expectations. All five Jazz starters once again finished in the negative in the +/- department.
"I thought this game was not representative of how we want to play," Hardy said. "I thought we started the game great. We controlled the tempo, our spacing was very good, our execution was good. And as the game went on, that did not continue and it put us in a tough spot against a good team and a very good player down the stretch."
Hardy also would have liked to have seen better communication from his squad overall, especially as Embiid exploited Utah's spacing issues on offense to stunning success.
"I thought our communication and execution was very poor in those situations," Hardy said. "We did a bad job of communicating where the crowded side was so that the player on the ball knows where to send the ball. Credit to Embiid. He took advantage of it and played a great game."
At some point, the Jazz are going to have to learn how to play collective defense and hustle on that side of the court. That's especially true when the shots simply aren't dropping as usual.
"I think a lot of our poor defensive play, or poor communication, stemmed from our offense was not operating the way it should," Hardy said. "I felt like our team got frustrated, and we were not able to carry over our focus to the defensive end very well. But it's a great learning moment for our team. And [there]'s a lot more games to go."
The Jazz fall to 10-5 on the season and now sit in fourth place in the Western Conference. All that optimism and genuine shock that accompanied Utah's hot start to this season have now translated to murmuring with fingers hovering over the panic button.
Was this a fool's gold start after all? I mean, we're talking about two straight losses. Hardy scoffs at the notion, calling the loss a "great learning moment" for the Jazz. Who expected Utah to go 82-0 anyway?
"There's 82 games. I wish that we were able to be perfect through all 82," Hardy said. "Tonight, on a second night of a back-to-back, in a tough environment here in Philly, we had some moments where we could have really seized control of the game, and we didn't. Sometimes you miss a timely shot, and that's okay. We're always just focused on how we play, how we execute on offense and defense. Some nights, the ball just doesn't go in. I don't think that was the case tonight."
Hardy is trying to say that there was more to Utah's loss in Philly than just some bad luck with the ball not going in. Obviously, that's true.
Utah needs to clean up its communication issues and refocus on defense so that the team has some answers on the nights when that pesky ball simply isn't dropping through the net for points on the board.
