Estimated read time: 5-6 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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 -- The question of how the Jazz opponents are always shooting at a blistering pace has been out there since last season, when teams would frequently shoot over 50 percent from just about everywhere.
This showed up again in the highs and lows of the Jazz's first three games of the season. The question is whether it is the Jazz or actually the opponents getting hot.
Last season the Jazz were in the bottom half of the league with their opponents shooting 45 percent from the field. Not the worst, but giving up 99 points per game won't get it done. This season they are up to 46 percent, which is 24th in the league. However, this season they are giving up a league worst 47 percent from beyond the arc. The next closest is giving up only 45 percent.
The first game was at home and the Mavericks came out firing. Their first half shooting was fantastic. They finished the half up by 8, after being down 8 and a lot of that came from shooting beyond the arc.
"Mavsmoneyball", the SBnation site for the Mavs, talked about the give and take from the first half that involved the Mavs shooting from deep and the Jazz using their inside game.
"The Jazz punished Dallas early and often, with their big men running the floor on the fast break and finishing shots. Dallas countered by shooting 7 from 8 from beyond the arc to push the Dallas lead to 63-55 at half time. 30 of Dallas' 63 points came on three pointers in the first half."
The Jazz came out of the second half with a bigger effort on defense and they held the Mavs to 31 points in the second half. It started by being aggressive, but the Mavs ended with a 50 percent shot from 3-point land, but according to "Mavsmoneyball", they only shot 37.5 percent overall.
So, inside the Mavs were hitting around one for every three shots. Outside they were at 50 percent. Is that the lack of movement from the big guys who can clog the paint or were the Mavs hot? The next game against the Hornets could give a better glimpse into that.
The game agains the Hornets showed a weakness against a shooting big man that is evident. This game it was Ryan Anderson, a stretch 4, who killed the Jazz, including a late-3 that tied the game. The "NOLA Defender" wrote this about the matchup.
"You'd expect a Utah frontcourt with Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Derrick Favors, and Enes Kanter to dominate our relatively thin line of big men, but those guys combined to be just 12-27 from the field, and going 0-4 from the free throw line. Credit Ryan Anderson, who finally found his shooting touch, going 5-9 from deep for 19 points."
The problem with this is that there was no other player on the Hornets roster that hit a 3-point shot, the team going 5-14. Granted there is no player on the roster that is known as a 3-point threat other than Anderson.
The Mavs only made one three from their front court, and that was Shawn Marion. The Hornets didn't have any shot from the backcourt. The Spurs were another monster.
By now it might just be a bad idea to use the Spurs to try to prove any point, since the Spurs control the Jazz, but they were able to do damage from long range to give the Spurs a huge halftime lead.
The Spurs SBnation site, "Pound the Rock", wrote about the dominance the Spurs had early on against the Jazz.
"The Spurs finished the first two quarters with an 18-point lead, shooting a blistering 74.3% from the floor, including a 5-7 performance from beyond the arc. It was as simple as getting open looks. San Antonio did not get out on the break nor did they solely live inside the paint (only 20 out of their first half 62 points came from the inside)"
Yep, only 20 points from inside. That means 42 points came from the outside. The Spurs ended up shooting 54 percent from 3. Matt Bonner, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard were perfect from different positions. Tony Parker joined the Miller Corporation, at least it seems like he owns the Jazz. He had 24 with 45 percent shooting.
The Spurs are shooting around 46 percent so far this season, but they shot 57 percent against the Jazz.
Maybe the answer is simple, it's about the road and the home. The Mavs ended low the Spurs finished with a fantastic shooting show.
Here is a quote that might scare Jazz fans brought by ESPN's Power Rankings where the Jazz fell three spots to 13. But there is real chance that the Jazz could fall over the next few weeks as the road trip continues.
"ESPN Stats & Info, dispatching the sort of nugget that doesn't reach us every day, reports that the Jazz are 5-17 in their last 22 games played in the Eastern or Central time zones dating to last season. We think this is related news: Five of Utah's next eight games meet that description."
So, the 1-2 Jazz might be struggling in the next two weeks. Even if the Jazz win their three games nearby, two home and one in Denver, they would still have five games that they would have to beat their average. If not they will end up being in the area of 4-7.
And there it is, completely conclusive proof that the Jazz can struggle with any team at any time. Or completely inconclusive proof that there isn't a solid answer to the problem that the Jazz have.
Are they simply poor defenders, at every position, is it the defense that suffers the most on the road or is it simply that they can't play consistently? The answers will come down the road, but hopefully for Jazz fans they will also have answers for the road.
