CHARLOTTE — Three thoughts from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen after the Charlotte Hornets' 124-119 double overtime win over the Jazz.

1. The Jazz defense allowed Kemba Walker to score 52

Kemba Walker scored 52 points in Monday afternoon's game, the first time any Charlotte Hornet had ever scored above 50, and significantly higher than Walker's previous scoring high of 42. He also added nine rebounds and eight assists, making the right play in a lot of different facets of the game.

The Jazz can't be letting that happen. Walker had a good game, and was shooting well, but the Jazz did far too little to slow him down. So what failed?

First, the Jazz's pick and roll defense from the point guard spots left something to be desired all night. Here, Trey Burke gets too easily screened, then makes the mistake of fouling Walker at the rim too.

Here's trailing the screen, with limited help, plus a bad foul pic.twitter.com/PUkYIZc44c — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 19, 2016

Given the struggles with regular pick and roll defense, the Jazz started to switch that, putting a big man on Walker. There were communication issues with that at times:

Today's TT looks at why Jazz defense struggled. First, a communication error pic.twitter.com/moTNe3MndU — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 19, 2016

Kemba then smartly isolates the big man, and either [shoots over the top if he's given space](http://on.nba.com/1U8iYyT), or [dribbles by if the defender is too close](http://on.nba.com/1S0SHn3).

Even when Walker wasn't running the pick-and-roll, the Jazz still struggled with him off the ball. Here's Raul Neto just ball-watching, leaving Walker for the corner three:

Here's Neto ball-watching. pic.twitter.com/FrB5U4om76 — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 19, 2016

And Burke over-helping on a pretty innocuous roll opportunity by Cody Zeller, leaving Walker wide open.

And here's Burke over helping on a Cody Zeller roll pic.twitter.com/02XkIUngKi — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) January 19, 2016

No doubt, Walker hit some tough shots. But 52 points and eight assists is too many to allow a player of Walker's caliber, who came in averaging 19 points and five assists.

This is where the Jazz really miss Dante Exum, who was able to stifle opposing point guards using his length. He was also able to contest catch-and-shoot looks that Burke and Neto just can't get to because of their 6-foot-1 size. Today, Charlotte looked to take advantage of that mismatch every time down the floor, and the Jazz never figured it out.

2. Gordon Hayward's one man show

Gordon Hayward was sometimes a one man show on the offensive end for the Jazz tonight, scoring 36 points himself and getting 9 assists to boot.

27 of those points were through the first three quarters of play, in which Hayward was the Jazz's only effective offensive weapon. As Hood, Lyles, Neto, and Chris Johnson went a combined 4-23 around him, Hayward kept the Jazz close with his own shooting from inside and out.

But as the game ended, the Hornets changed their defensive strategy on Hayward, often doubling him on screens or as he went to the lane. They were able to help with impunity from whoever was guarding Trevor Booker, especially, who went 1-6 with the looks he was provided. Hayward adapted, somewhat, by getting five assists and going to the line six times during the last six minutes of the game and overtime.

But Hayward also lost the ball with three critical turnovers in that time. Faced with that sort of end-game defensive pressure, Hayward is susceptible to turning the ball over with his good-but-not-great ballhandling ability. When the Jazz have four other offensive threats on the floor, there's more space to operate, but with Booker in Derrick Favors' spot, his margin of error goes way down.

Snyder has complimented Hayward's progression this season multiple times, saying he's stepping up when no one else would (like his 36 points tonight) to be the team's leader. He has grown on the offensive end too, making the right play probably more than anyone else on the team. But he needs help.

3. Jazz deserve credit for comebacks

Jazz came back three separate times from points when the Hornets had over a 95 percent chance of winning the game. Check out this win probability graph, thanks to the people at inpredictable.com:

First, for the Jazz to come back from 13 down with just under 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter was impressive. That effort was largely thanks to Trevor Booker, who picked up eight points, an assist, a rebound, and a steal in a four minute stretch in the fourth.

Then, down 3 after Burke's miss with 26 seconds left, the Jazz still looked unlikely to win. But Hayward's offensive rebound, then trip to the free throw line, then assist to Burke for the inexplicably wide-open corner three left the game tied in regulation.

Finally, down 5 with 22 seconds left, the Jazz didn't have much of a chance against to come back in the first overtime. But Hayward setting Joe Ingles up for a wide-open three, then getting the steal, then finding Gobert for an easy dunk gave the Jazz a third chance at life.

They didn't come through in the end, and blew a four point lead in the first overtime. But credit, at least, for finding ways to come back when the team could have easily given up. In the end, the poor performance in the first half is what cost the Jazz, not their play late.

Related topics