SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts about the Jazz's 113-102 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.

Quin Snyder had a "Quin Moment"

Maybe the biggest difference between Ty Corbin and Quin Snyder is Snyder's understanding of the moment. Yes, Snyder is first and foremost about establishing a culture, a system, and implementing that ideal every single second of every single day. But Snyder takes advantage of critical inflection points in his team's trajectory, and inspires season-bending moments out of them that seem to inspire a real change.

The first technical of his NBA head coaching career was one of these moments, the infamous "WAKE UP" direction from the sideline. That worked: the Jazz turned an 11-point deficit into an 18-point win.

Later on in the season, the Jazz had 10-point deficit with nine minutes left in a home game against Minnesota. Snyder called timeout, and simply stared at his players for an entire two minutes. The silent treatment worked, and the Jazz won the game by six points.

Tuesday night featured another Quin Moment, this time in his postgame conference. He took a question about Rudy Gobert, completely ignored it, and went on the following two-and-a-half-minute rant.

"Yeah. The thing about our team is we've got some good players. And we've got an opportunity to be a good team. But it's not like anybody or our team has done anything. We've played well at times. Our individual players have played well at times. "You're looking at Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and guys that have that level, we haven't touched that. For us, it's, hey look at what that is and what those guys are doing, how hard they practice. You see them before the game, how hard they went? Those are hungry guys that are All-Stars. "If we want to get to that place, individually, collectively, that's what you have to do. You have to say, look, that's it. I think they appreciate the opportunity they have. You know, Kevin Durant was hurt for a year. They lost in the NBA Finals. They know that level and they looked unbelievably hungry. They just came out and came at it. "To me, that's a team that has an appreciation for how difficult it is to win in this league. They know that you have to do everything. And sometimes, that's still not enough on a given night, unless you get a little lucky. We don't understand that. Why would we? We haven't been in that situation. "To play a team that's on that level, to me, that's what you have to do to get there. You have to experience it. You can talk about it all you want until Kevin Durant comes down from three feet behind the line and you go under on pick and roll and he drills a three and you say, that's what he does. That's what he does. That's a credit to them. "And it's not being down on our team either, it's realistic. I love our team. We didn't make a change. We got Alec back, we resigned Book, we've got the same team we had last year. If we didn't feel the way about our team we wouldn't do that. But that doesn't mean that we're a good team yet. "We were a good team for about two months. And we were a good team when other teams were sometimes resting a player. The competition that we played was always formidable in the league. But we weren't playing teams that were competing for the playoffs very often. "I'm not dampening any enthusiasm, but I am being realistic about who our group is. And that's what our group needs. We need to be realistic about the level that's out there. And if we want to reach it, it's a hard road."

Whoa. That's a season manifesto, right there, explaining where the Jazz are and where they need to be going.

Rudy Gobert confirmed that Snyder told them largely the same thing in his postgame message to the players. We'll have a chance to see if they received that message on Thursday night against the Nuggets.

Rudy Gobert on his game and progress

The Jazz lost 27 points on the scoreboard Tuesday night in Rudy Gobert's 32 minutes: that was a team low, and especially bad considering that no one else on the team posted anything worse than a -9. It's continued a pretty disappointing preseason for Gobert.

Let's make the comparison: how has Rudy Gobert has played in his regular season last year vs. his performance this preseason?

The biggest changes I note are the offensive rebounding percentages, the shooting percentages, and the block percentages. In my mind, the first two are related: Gobert got so many easy putback dunks and layups on the offensive glass last year that he's just not getting right now, and it's hurting his efficiency.

On D, he's looking like he's a step slow rotating to contest shots. That's also reflected in the lower steal rate, as he's not ball-hawking like before.

I asked Gobert about this in an interview after the game.

What can you do to get back to his level last season defensively?

"I think I can be more aggressive, especially at the beginning of the game."

"I think we were backing up. When you back up against very good players, they just attack you and you get in trouble. I think we did great in the third quarter, about picking it up, and being more aggressive and more communicative, and I think that's what I need to do right from the beginning."

Does you treat these games any differently than a regular season game?

"Not really. We wanted to win this game. We're really trying to get ready for the season."

And what do you think you need to have happen on the offensive end?

"It's tough. It's tough. It's tough when you've been working on it, trying to find it. I didn't really touch the ball in the second half, and it's hard trying to find my rhythm. I feel stronger, I feel better, I feel more confident, I'm working every day on my shot and my post moves. I think it's just, you know, confidence. Trying to work in a way they can find me when I roll and flash to the backup.

"I think I can score, to be honest. I just have to be confident and trust in my teammates."

To be fair, the other half of the Jazz's big-man pairing, Derrick Favors, doesn't look like himself right now either. But Gobert's the one who has been hyped so much after his tremendous second season, and now's a critical time in the story of his career.

Jazz guards look good

The loss shouldn't overshadow some good performances by the Jazz's guards Tuesday night.

• Trey Burke had his second good offensive game in a row, going 7 for 15 from the field, scoring 20 points. The most impressive part of his game to me was that he got to the line four times for six free-throw attempts. Getting to the line was something he struggled with last year, but maybe the balance he's been working on this offseason has helped with that. Snyder also complimented Burke's defense on Russell Westbrook.
• Alec Burks got to the line even more, turning just three made buckets into 14 points through nine free-throw attempts. Burks had four turnovers, but he's able to manufacture offense in one-on-one situations in a way nobody else can.
• Rodney Hood took more shots than anyone else on the team, going 9 for 16 for 23 points overall. He still looks great in terms of being able to establish position for himself off of the pick and roll, but being able to do it for an entire season is an enticing prospect.

Related topics