The Triple Team: 3 thoughts on Jazz vs. Hawks


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ATLANTA — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 120-95 win over the Atlanta Hawks from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. Offensive execution

Tonight might be the best I've seen the Jazz's offense play since Jerry Sloan left the franchise. The Jazz had a 132.3 offensive rating tonight (120 points in 90 possessions), which obviously is very good. It's not the highest offensive rating of the post-Sloan era, in fact, the offensive rating has been higher five times. Let's look at what happened in those five games.

  • The Jazz scored 120 points in 88 possessions on Houston on Nov. 29 of this season, which is very good. But Houston is the league's 17th ranked defense, and the Jazz shot 15-28 from beyond the 3-point line.
  • On March 28, 2016, the Jazz gave the Lakers their then biggest loss ever, winning 123-75. The Jazz shot 17-32 from beyond the arc against the league's 30th-ranked defense, including one player with a weird defensive mission that absolutely cost the Lakers points.
  • The Jazz played the Sacramento Kings on Dec. 11, 2013, and won 122-101. The Jazz shot 13-23 from beyond the 3-point line against the 6-14 Kings, who had the 23rd ranked defense.
  • On Dec. 9, 2012, the Jazz scored 117 points in Los Angeles in only 86 possessions. The Jazz actually only shot 33 percent from 3, but picked up 16 offensive rebounds and only turned the ball over nine times. The Lakers had the 20th-ranked defense.
  • The Jazz hosted the Toronto Raptors in their previous game, on Dec. 7, 2012 and dropped 131 points in 97 possessions on the 4-16 Raptors, who had the league's 22nd-ranked defense. The Jazz shot 13-23 from deep and picked up 15 offensive rebounds.
Looking at this, you'd think that in order for the Jazz to have a historically great offensive night, the formula would be to play a team with a below-average or worse defense, and either make a ton of 3-point shots or get a lot of offensive rebounds, or preferably both.

Instead, tonight the Jazz played the league's 4th-ranked defense in Atlanta. They made only 38 percent of their threes (and only 67 percent of their free throws). They picked up nine offensive rebounds, basically the same as their average of 8.8 per game.

What they did do was make so many shots inside the arc. League average on 2-point shots this season has been just under 50 percent, 49.9 to be exact. The Jazz shot 72 percent. That's because they made 80 percent of their shots at the rim, 66 percent of shots in the paint, and 62.5 percent on shots from the mid-range. Basically, they had it going.

The Triple Team: 3 thoughts on Jazz vs. Hawks

I think it's fair to say that it wasn't all variance, though. The Jazz moved the ball really well tonight, picking up 31 assists. That's a high in the Quin Snyder era and second post-Sloan.

By the way, it's also very rare that teams shoot over 60 percent for a game in the modern era. It's only happened six times this season, and three of those times were the Golden State Warriors. That 61 percent shooting tonight is also a record for the post-Sloan era.

2. Derrick Favors has a 20/10 game

Our nightly power forward watch continues with Derrick Favors, who had his first 20-point, 10-rebound game since March of 2016. Probably not coincidentally, that's also just about the last time Favors felt healthy: he's had a litany of back and knee issues since April of last season.

Favors did it primarily through his mid-range jumper, which he was very confident in tonight. Heck, he even took a three, though it missed.

The Triple Team: 3 thoughts on Jazz vs. Hawks

It's interesting: I've heard a few people say that one of Favors' problems this season is that he had lost the effectiveness on his mid-range jumper. That's not actually the case. Here were his numbers coming into the game:

Shooting Table
SeasonFG%0-33-1010-1616 <3
[2012-13](http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/favorde01/gamelog/2013/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool).482.670.282.365.258
[2013-14](http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/favorde01/gamelog/2014/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool).522.696.388.370.263
[2014-15](http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/favorde01/gamelog/2015/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool).525.745.327.401.341
[2015-16](http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/favorde01/gamelog/2016/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool).515.714.453.391.331
[2016-17](http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/favorde01/gamelog/2017/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool).455.544.491.408.333
Career.509.686.370.375.308

Provided by [Basketball-Reference.com](http://www.sports-reference.com/sharing.html?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool): [View Original Table](http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/favorde01.html?sr&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool#shooting) Generated 2/6/2017.
As you can see, where he's actually lost effectiveness is at the rim, not anywhere else. His jumper has probably had the strongest season of his career, and tonight was a good example.

I also liked Favors' defensive activity tonight. Favors picked up three steals and two blocks. Here's one of the steals, which just happened because he kept his arms out to prevent an interior pass. Quin Snyder's talked a lot about this in the last few weeks as the Jazz try to increase their turnovers forced.

Derrick Favors gets a steal, his third of the night. pic.twitter.com/ipRzI4x9Hl — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 7, 2017

Then, this is just smart. Favors gets switched onto Dennis Schroder as he cycles under the basket, but Favors just moves his feet the whole way, never bodies him, and uses his length to block the shot:

Derrick Favors contains Schroder on the drive, doesn't body him, and ends up getting the easy block. pic.twitter.com/3D2uMRbo27 — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 7, 2017

Favors allowed only 1 of 7 shots he defended around the rim to go in tonight. Maybe all it took was a little bit of home cooking for Favors, the native Atlantan. But Rudy Gobert's going to keep him focused.

"He has to bring it next game," Gobert told The Salt Lake Tribune. "He has to bring it every game now."

3. Neat play

Gordon Hayward was phenomenal tonight for the second straight game, following up a season-high 33 points Saturday with 30 points tonight. Six of those makes were right at the rim, but especially early they weren't really easy layups, but driving ones where he had to bully his way through to the rim.

That's where the strength he's picked up has really helped: he can use his body and power through people and finish anyway. Before every game, assistant coach Johnnie Bryant works with him on this, jumping on his back and holding his arm as Hayward tries to finish through the contact. That means that Hayward gets used to getting bumped around the rim.

This wasn't his hardest attempt, but I wanted to show you because it was some nice play design. Hayward holds the ball at center court, waiting for a screen from Gobert. It's a good screen, but watch how Exum makes it even better by screening the help defender:

Hayward gets a layup thanks to two screens, the first by Gobert and the second by Exum. pic.twitter.com/vcrtF269K8 — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 7, 2017

Now, Bembry's behind the play because he was screened by Gobert, and Muscala is behind the play because he was screened by Exum. Schroder can't help quickly because Gobert's a lob threat, and Millsap and Hardaway can't help all the way because Trey Lyles and Alec Burks are standing in the corners. In the end, Muscala's on Hayward's back, Schroder reaches in, and nobody can impact the play enough to prevent Hayward from getting a layup.

Neat idea, and good execution by Hayward, who's become one of the most versatile players in the NBA.

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