The scoreboard said the Jazz lost, but fans should be happy after Friday's preseason game


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SALT LAKE CITY — With 1.4 seconds left, Utah's Jarrell Brantley soared high — really high — to block a Javon Bess layup attempt into the glass. But he didn’t get there quite quickly enough. Brantley was called for goaltending and suddenly the Pelicans had the late lead.

But wait, there was a review. The play was close — really close. Brantley got to the ball before it hit the backboard, but it was hard to tell if it was already on its way down. After taking a long look at it, the refs gave a collective shrug.

The call stood. Pelicans win 128-127. Heartbreak in New Orleans — or something like that.

That late-game drama, while fun, took a backseat to what was really important for the Jazz on Friday. There was no Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert on the floor during those closing moments. And there was no Lonzo Ball, Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram for the Pelicans. Their work had already been done.

There were a few firsts for this 2019-20 Jazz against the Pelicans.

There was the first made basket by Mike Conley: a first-quarter corner 3-pointer. The first lob between Conley and Rudy Gobert: a connection that came after a pick and roll and that Gobert slammed home. The first coach’s challenge in team history: Quin Snyder made the refs go take a second look when they called Jeff Green for a foul on a block; the call was reversed.

But more importantly, it was the first time this year's Jazz all played a game together. No one was resting on Friday.

“Obviously, we have had guys kind of resting and stuff,” Joe Ingles said at Friday’s shootaround. ”To get everyone out there and try to get that camaraderie, how we want to play, get used to each other — it’s obviously different than we had the last couple years. I feel like it’s coming together well. That’s why we have preseason to keep building it.”

If Friday’s any indication, that camaraderie is well on its way. At least on the offensive end.

With all their weapons available (minus the injured Dante Exum and Emmanuel Mudiay), the Jazz’s offense was simply phenomenal. Utah started Conley, Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Royce O’Neale and Gobert with Ingles, Jeff Green and Ed Davis coming off the bench to form a core eight-man rotation that took up most of the minutes in the first half.

No matter who the Jazz end up starting, that could be a preview of the normal rotation — especially until Exum or Mudiay get back healthy (and that still might not change things).

How did they do? In the first two quarters, the Jazz shot 67.5 percent from the field, were 9 of 16 from 3-point range and handed out 20 assists. Conley got into the paint at will — actually the Jazz as a whole did that — setting up kick-outs and swing passes that resulted in what felt like an all-you-can-eat buffet of wide-open looks from everyone.

All the things the Jazz fans envisioned the offense looking like all summer happened against the Pelicans. There was so much spacing that it almost seemed effortless for the team to penetrate and pass to find open guys.

Each of the Jazz’s main eight rotation players had at least one assist with Ingles leading the way with eight and Conley and Mitchell both finishing with seven.

Jeff Green had a team-high 20 points off the bench on 8-for-9 shooting. O’Neale had 16 points and was 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Bogdanovic had 15 points and eight rebounds while connecting on three 3-pointers. Gobert had 15 points, Conley had 13, while Mitchell, the player that’s had to take on so much of the scoring load over the last two seasons, had just 10.

Utah has a lot of weapons and Friday showed they are starting to learn how to use them. The Jazz assisted on 37 of their 49 made field goals, hit on 19 of 38 of their 3-pointers and built up as much as a 14-point second-half lead before Snyder opted to use the backend of his bench to play the last quarter, leading to the Pelicans' comeback.

“I think it’s picking up,” Mitchell said. “I think this is the first time that we’ve all played together. I think that's the biggest thing to get some games under our belt together. You can’t expect all just to click all at one time with so many new guys.”

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