Storylines: Jazz return to practice after Thanksgiving


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Notes and quotes from Friday's Utah Jazz practice, as they prepare to face the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night at Vivint Arena.

Thanksgiving not slowing the Jazz down

The team returned to practice after having the day off for Thanksgiving Thursday, and didn't come to practice feeling too full. Both Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors professed they held back at their Thanksgiving tables, avoiding the overstuffing that may lead to a hangover in practice today.

"I didn't eat that much," Favors said. When asked about his favorite food, he said, "Sweet potatoes. That's probably most of what I ate, sweet potatoes. Other than that, I didn't eat that much. "

Meanwhile, Brazilian guard Raul Neto enjoyed his first Thanksgiving in the United States.

"It was really good. I went to Alex Jensen's house. A lot of food, great food. I really enjoyed it."

That being said, practice today wasn't much of a physically taxing affair. Jazz coach Quin Snyder explained that it was a "mental day", used to "reacquaint ourselves with what we did, what we did well, and why it makes sense."

Trey Burke was held out of practice today with back spasms, the same affliction that forced him to sit out of the second half of Wednesday's game. Rodney Hood also was diagnosed with back spasms, but did practice today. Both are questionable for Saturday's game.

Jazz staying at home for a while

After an early stretch which has seen the Jazz play 10 of its first 14 games on the road, the Jazz finally get to stay at home for a while. They now play the next 4 games at home, and don't get on a plane until Dec. 7. In short, it'll be nearly two weeks they can stay in Salt Lake City.

Snyder explained the impact of travel on the on-court performance. "When you travel, guys get tired. When you're at home, and you're sleeping in your own bed, and you don't lose four to six hours to travel every day, you can take care of yourself."

Favors is excited for this upcoming stretch, personally.

"I get to stay at home. My daughters, spend some time with them, spend some time at home in my house and chill. We've been on the road a lot lately and I'm going to take advantage of this time."

Anthony Davis tomorrow

Saturday, the Jazz face Anthony Davis, a burgeoning talent that has made his presence known in the NBA as one of its top five talents. Davis has led the Pelicans to three straight wins after a slow start, averaging 26 points and 18 rebounds per contest in those three games.

Snyder knows that Davis will be difficult to handle. "There's a lot to think about, because he's such multi-dimensional player. He's another one of those guys, and I throw him into the same category as the LeBrons, the Chris Pauls, the top players at their position in the league. There's so many things he can do, he can shoot it, he can defend, he makes plays."

"No matter what you do, there's no way you'll be able to completely stop a guy that's that good."

Hayward's great game

Hayward had his best game of the season on Wednesday, scoring 33 points in an 11-point win that snapped a 13-game losing streak for the Jazz against the Clippers.

Hayward was fantastic on both ends, as evidenced by the fact that the Jazz outscored the Clippers by 22 points in his 40 minutes of play. Snyder made sure to point out Hayward's defensive effort beyond his offensive output.

Snyder has repeatedly defended Hayward against critics this season. After the Clippers win, when Jazz broadcaster Craig Bolerjack referenced those critics in a question about Hayward's great performance. Here's how Snyder responded:

Snyder: "Im sorry for laughing at the question (about Hayward struggles) but any criticism in Gordon's direction has simply been misplaced." — Spencer Checketts (@1280Spence) November 26, 2015

Then today, when he was asked about Hayward's aggressiveness this season, Snyder said, "He's aggressive, but not always aggressive for his own baskets. He's aggressive to score, but willing to read and see what options that creates. When he's efficient, he concentrates on attacking, then making the right play."

Hayward's rotational move

One element that had changed for Hayward on Wednesday was which parts of the games he played in — he played much more time with bench units at the start of the second and fourth quarters than he has for most of the season.

I asked Snyder about the rotational change.

"No combination or starting lineup is sacred, especially early in the year when you're trying to figure things out. You're really just trying to find guys that fit together," Snyder said.

"Last year, we started with this rotation, but found Gordon was more comfortable playing the whole first quarter. I talked to him before the game, and I told him that's what we were thinking about doing, and he felt good about it.

For his part, it didn't matter much to Hayward. Yes, he'll play fewer minutes with Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert as a result of the rotational change, but that won't change his role in the offense.

"Our offense is such that it shouldn't matter who's out there on the court. For the most part, we have guys who are interchangeable, we play a lot of different lineups. It doesn't bother me."

As a result, though, Hayward played 40 minutes, his highest minute total of the season. Some of this, to be sure, was due to Trey Burke's back spasms, which forced more minutes out of Neto and the rest of the wings on the roster. But Snyder, with his background with the Spurs, is conscious of the possibility of playing Hayward too many minutes.

"I believe we'll be better as our bench improves, but until that happens, sometimes our starters will have to play more minutes. We've played Fav a lot this year too," Snyder noted.

Neto's great game

Raul Neto had the best game of his NBA career on Wednesday, including a 11 minute stretch where he made a major impact in the third quarter. I asked Snyder and Neto if anything had led to that performance.

Snyder pointed to two things. First, the two had a conversation at halftime, after the team learned Burke would be unable to continue.

"I grabbed him at halftime, and I said 'How about this: last year, you were playing in the ACB, and this year, you're squared up against Chris Paul. How about that?'," Snyder recalled. "He kinda laughed. I didn't want him to be nervous in any way.

Secondly, Clippers coach Doc Rivers chose to attack Neto repeatedly with their plays, a decision that Snyder says helped Neto.

"He's always been good defensively. I think it helped him that they attacked him, frankly. They picked him up and made it hard for him a little bit. When someone punches you, you gotta punch back. I think that helped him."

It wasn't lost on Neto that for a stretch he was outplaying Paul, widely considered the best point guard in the league.

"It's crazy to think about that. I was in Spain last year, I couldn't imagine I was going to be here playing against Chris Paul, Westbrook, all those guys. And I'm here," Neto said. "I was thinking about that when I come back to the game: I've got to take advantage of that."

Most recent Sports stories

Related topics

SportsUtah Jazz
Andy Larsen

    ARE YOU GAME?

    From first downs to buzzer beaters, get KSL.com’s top sports stories delivered to your inbox weekly.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast