Will Hardy Pleased With Jazz's 'Buy-In' During 6-Game Road Trip
The Utah Jazz are just over halfway through their six-game road trip. As it stands, Utah is 1-3 over this stretch, with two more games to go before the team returns home.
The first two games saw the Jazz turn in a pair of ugly performances, but even in the loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the team took a step forward. In Thursday night's victory over the Orlando Magic, it felt like the Jazz turned another corner, finding a way to steal a road victory without several key players.
After the game in Orlando, head coach Will Hardy concurred that his squad has improved as this road trip has marched ahead and put his finger on why the Jazz have coalesced in recent games.
“I think it’s, again, just continuing to focus on our group and this group of guys never point the finger," Hardy said. "They never try to give the blame to anybody else. We all, myself included, just try to look in the mirror and take our piece of responsibility for what goes on every night. You have good games, you have bad games. Even in Dallas, I thought we played pretty well and [we] didn’t win and so we just take every game and try to learn from it."
Hardy is seemingly keeping his sights on fielding a competitive basketball team, aiming to make a playoff push down the stretch. But he is always seeking new ways for the Jazz to leap forward.
"How can we improve as a group? How can everybody continue to find their niche within our team? That’s how we’re going to continue to be," Hardy said. "I think after losing some tough games to start this road trip, I think it just speaks to the buy-in we have from this group of guys. They came out and played just as hard as they’ve been playing the whole season. There was no let-down, there was no ‘poor me’ attitude. After having some tough losses, I think everybody just stepped up tonight and really wanted to get a win.”
The Jazz have been without starting point guard Collin Sexton for this entire trip (eight straight missed games), while shooting guard Jordan Clarkson has been in and out of the lineup with a thumb injury. Meanwhile, the Jazz played one road game sans All-Star Lauri Markkanen and one without impact center Walker Kessler.
If the Jazz could just find a way to get all of their starters on the court at the same time, this could actually be a dangerous team. Tip your cap to Talen Horton-Tucker and Kris Dunn for really stepping up in the respective absences of Sexton and Clarkson.
Without them, Markkanen, and all the King's horses and all the King's men, wouldn't be enough to make the Jazz relevant again. What guys were available to Hardy, they answered the bell in Orlando, even without the team's starting backcourt.
"I guess what I’m trying to highlight is everybody contributed to this win," Hardy said of the Magic game. "That’s how we’re built. That’s how we try to operate every day. It’s not about just one person. And [I’m] just happy for the guys to dig in and get a good win on the road.”
Next up, Utah takes on the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night.
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