Jazz HC Will Hardy Reacts to Brutal Shooting Night vs. Nuggets

The Utah Jazz had a notably cold night shooting the basketball during their latest showing vs. the Denver Nuggets, one ultimately ending in a 93-129 loss for their fifth loss in a row.

In Friday's contest, the Jazz finished the night by posting 35.5% shooting from the field, while going a bleak 7/40 from long distance to finish with a shooting percentage of 17.5% –– their worst three-point percentage the team has seen across the entire season.

Simply, the shots just weren't falling for Utah, but it's nothing head coach Will Hardy is seemingly super concerned about.

The Jazz coach hit the podium after the Jazz's Friday matchup vs. Denver, making it known that the focus is more centered around seeing positive development on both sides of the ball rather than just their shooting percentages.

"For our group, it's about continuing to focus on what we can control, understanding that there's still so much room for growth for all of these guys, and they have so much basketball ahead of them," Hardy said. "Making or missing shots are not what I'm concerned about right now; it's about how we execute on both sides of the ball. It's a tough game against that team when you're pretty small. but for the most part, I think the team gave a pretty good effort."

Really, it wasn't a game without its positives as well. The Jazz won the turnover battle against a tough and polished Western Conference team 18-17, matched up well in rebounding numbers despite being without several frontcourt contributors, and good looks were still being generated on the offensive end.

However, the inefficiency in shooting the ball around the floor was the biggest factor in how the end results of this game panned out.

"They still have belief in themselves and in the process," Hardy continued. "We don't have people that in those moments, break off script. When we generate good looks for guys that we believe in their shooting, and the ball doesn't go in, there can be this human tendency of 'this isn't working, let me try something else,' and I though for the most part, to generate 40 threes, we did a good job."

Of course, shooting under 40% from the field and 20% from three is far from optically appealing, but when looking at the big picture of what the Jazz showed this game, there's still reason to have extended belief in this young core. In a tough battle against one of the best teams in the West in the second night of a back-to-back, there was energy, confidence, and in the end, a bit of praise from their head coach.

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