Will Hardy 'Not Happy' With Jazz's Inability to Read the Defense
Undoubtedly, the Utah Jazz turned in a stinker of a performance in Friday night's 130-103 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. While it's true that Utah was missing its starting backcourt again — Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson — there's really no excuse for the team's Keystone Cops-like turnover implosion.
The Jazz gave the ball away a whopping 25 times to Oklahoma City's seven. Without Sexton and Clarkson, players like Talen Horton-Tucker, Ochai Agbaji, and newcomer Kris Dunn have had to do the heavy lifting when it comes to ball handling.
But between turnovers and an overall inability to impose their offense on the opponent, the Jazz were a shell of their usual selves on Friday night. When pressed on the subject, Jazz head coach Will Hardy wasn't happy with how his players were reading the court.
“I’m not happy with our reading of the defense at the moment," Hardy said post-game. "Understanding that Oklahoma City is a team that doesn’t have a ton of size, so they have to defend with multiple bodies. They do such a good job. Mark [Daigneault] has this team playing so hard and they scramble really well. Obviously, five charges. They’re coming and helping from the weak side and we have to recognize that in the moment and understand that the first person that drives the ball probably isn’t going to score."
When the opponent crashes down on the ball-handler who's trying to penetrate against a stout collective defense like the Thunder, Hardy wants to see the ball get kicked out to a shooter with a better look at the basket.
"Their defense is just not going to allow that first ball-handler to score at the rim," Hardy said. "So they deserve a lot of credit for how they played, but I don’t think tonight’s physicality was like a whole notch above anything we’ve seen this season.”
Hardy has had to tip his cap to victorious opponents too much of late. The coach's critique is interesting, considering it came on the heels of a San Antonio Spurs loss where he was frustrated with his team's lack of passing and being "stubborn" with the ball.
Do I detect a theme being established? Utah's current back-court players either need to figure out how to be true distributors of the ball, and get back to basics, or Sexton and Clarkson need to return soon. Otherwise, this train could jump the tracks in a hurry.
Here's to hoping the Jazz can get off the schneid and steal one in Oklahoma City on Sunday evening without All-Star Lauri Markkanen (back tightness) and Sexton (hamstring). It sounds like Clarkson (thumb) could be returning to the court.
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