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SALT LAKE CITY — While the Jazz are fighting for their playoff lives the Suns were a team looking to next year by playing young players. It should have been a recipe for a blowout. Until the fourth quarter it wasn't.
The Jazz were trying to get a big win and move on as they look to get into their playoff push, but the Suns wouldn't go away. An injury to Enes Kanter forced another change in the revolving door of Jazz lineups that ultimately lead to a big run and a big win for the Jazz.
A lineup of Alec Burks, Gordon Hayward, Marvin Williams, Derrick Favors and Al Jefferson spurred the Jazz onto a 17-2 run in the first 5:30 of the fourth quarter that allowed the Jazz to cruise late to a victory.
This group had played together a total 24 minutes through the season previous to last night's game. They hadn't been incredibly successful together before, but when the Jazz needed them this time they were able to come through big.
The Jazz usually play backups entering the fourth, recently a combination of Burks, Williams, Kanter, Favors and either Jamaal Tinsely, Earl Watson or one of the starting shooting guards, Hayward or Randy Foye.
With the shoulder dislocation for Kanter coach Tyrone Corbin had to change something up.
"We were trying to win the ballgame,"Corbin said. "I thought they hung in there. They made some runs. It just didn't feel like we were breaking away from them until the very end. I wanted to make sure we had control of the game so I left them in there a little longer. I thought Gordon and Al looked pretty good so I left them in there."
Jefferson and Hayward ended up playing 42 minutes. This was the sixth time Jefferson had played more that 40 minutes, two of which were in overtime. Hayward's 42 is his second most on the season, he played 43 against the Suns in November.
The Jazz made their playoff push last year with the "big lineup" a bruising front court with shooting outside. This line is actually taller than last year's model. Marvin is taller than Paul Millsap at the small forward and Burks is a 6'6" player at the point and the smallest player on the court for the Jazz by two inches.
The Jazz will constantly say it all starts with defense and the run to start the fourth was no different, but they were able to score also in a variety of ways.
"When we pass the ball, we've got a lot of weapons," Hayward said. "When we utilize them all we're tough to guard. When we're sharing the ball and making the extra pass, Big Al is kicking out of double teams reading the way he did tonight we can score at will pretty much."
Jefferson and Hayward scored 25 each. Jefferson had nine rebounds and Hayward added six assists and five rebounds to to his total.
A big key to the run, who might not get the credit he deserves is Williams. His stats don't paint a great story, he had five points, four rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes, but a couple of hustle plays and taking the lead defensively helped shape the fourth quarter success.
"He's one of our anchor defensively for us," Hayward said. "He's always a solid defender and always in the right spot getting those deflections for us."
The early run was filled with players hustling for loose balls, making the extra pass under the basket and getting open shots for teammates. One play in particular where Jefferson gets an offensives rebound and passes it to Williams, who passes it to Favors who then gets it back to Jefferson for an open shot exemplifies what was going on.
The Jazz started the fourth up 4, after this group was finished they were up 14 as the clock was winding down in the fourth. Without Kanter for at least the next few games will result in more lineups that are mixed and matched, if played right, runs like this could be the result.
