Jazz HC Will Hardy Gets Brutally Honest After Loss vs. Pistons

It was a sloppy showing from the Utah Jazz in their Monday night loss against the Detroit Pistons, ultimately coming up short 106-134 to end their extensive home stand, going 3-6 throughout.

However, the contest vs. Detroit was a bit more unorganized than most of what was seen in their previous attempts at the Delta Center. Ball security was a consistent shortcoming, Utah shot a collective 42.7% from the field and was ultimately outscored in every quarter of the game.

Far from the most appealing night of the year, and in the mind of head coach Will Hardy, the Jazz's shaky performance ultimately leaned upon the excessive turnovers allowed.

"The deciding factor in the game was turnovers. We had 18 at halftime, 28 for the game," Hardy said. "It's really hard to win if we can't take care of the ball... When it comes to analytics and all of the things that are tracked, and all the stats, the possession game is still going to be one of the most important things, and we did not do a good job of taking care of the ball tonight."

The Pistons had their way when it came to getting extra possessions from the Jazz. Five players on Detroit's roster had multiple steals on the night, and the fallout from those lapses clearly showed for Utah in the box score.

The game wasn't without its strong points from Utah. Kyle Filipowski led the team with a career-high 25 points, paired with eight rebounds off the bench, further cementing himself as a considerable piece of the Jazz's future endeavors.

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— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 4, 2025

But moving forward to the road stretch ahead, Coach Hardy still wants to see more out of his young players, especially on the defensive end.

"We have a big road trip coming up. I know the team will stay together," Hardy continued. "We need to continue to tighten up the attention to detail –– especially on the defensive side of the ball, but the overall force that we do things with has to continue to go up. All of the young players, everybody has to do 15% to 20% more in terms of the force you're trying to do everything with."

So far this season, the Jazz have ranked dead-last in the NBA for defensive efficiency with a league-worst 119.5 defensive rating. It might take an offseason or two for Utah to patch those holes, but in the meantime, the goal for Hardy's group will be to make some strides in getting stops for the final 20 games of the year.

Looking to what's to come, the Jazz have a lengthy five-game road trip on the horizon, kicking things off with a meeting against the 11-49 Washington Wizards on Wednesday. In a game with steep lottery implications, it'll be interesting to see how Utah approaches such a critical matchup against the worst-ranked team in the NBA.

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