SALT LAKE CITY — In a night without star guard Donovan Mitchell, the Utah Jazz struggled to defend the offensive attack of the Memphis Grizzlies in a 110-100 loss at home.

It’s the second home loss to the Grizzlies this season for the Jazz as bookends to a 3-1 road trip. Fundamentally, the Grizzlies created a mismatch and exploited the Jazz for much of the night.

The following are three takeaways from Friday night’s loss.

Where’s the Jazz defense?

With head coach Quin Snyder at the helm, the Jazz have been known as a defense-first team, as evidenced by their defensive rating of 103.9 last season, which was good for second in the league. It’s what allowed the Jazz to overcome their lack of offensive threats and to stay close with teams.

Against the Grizzlies, the Jazz looked lost and out of rhythm on defense for much of the night. Several Jazz players got lost in the screens Memphis set and perimeter shots fell with ease without a defender to contest the shot. Grizzlies' Marc Gasol was a big reason for the tough screens to get around, but the effort by the Jazz appeared lazy and as though they didn’t care to work through the screen.

“Marc is a great screener and then he can pop, too, so a big can’t help much because he’s tough to guard,” Ricky Rubio said. “He can really shoot the ball, set good screens and get guys open.”

Snyder, who was clearly frustrated by the effort of his team on defense, said after the game that the Memphis guards did a good job of getting open with the screen, but that his players needed to “compete” more.

“You’re not going to be successful every possession, but that has to be where our focus is,” Snyder said. “Everybody’s got to do their job and compete and we’ve got to compete collectively.”

And Friday night there was little effort there to compete, let alone collectively as a team. Rubio said the team wasn’t talking to each other enough on the defensive side of the ball and that they were a “little too selfish.”

“I know we have it in us because we show it in some spurts in some games, but we’ve got to do it for 48 minutes,” Rubio added.

Same team doesn’t translate to instant success

Having the same core returning for another season was a major reason general manager Dennis Lindsey didn’t make much noise in the offseason in terms of roster changes. The Jazz had a good thing going to end the season, so it was worth seeing if that same success could translate into another season.

And while it’s too early to make any sweeping statements about the Jazz team needing some roster changes, especially on a night when the effort just wasn’t simply there, it’s clear the Jazz aren’t quite fully in sync just yet. Now eight games into the season with a 4-4 record, the Jazz have some work to do as a team to be more in rhythm.

Rubio said playing as a team and picking up the chemistry of last season isn’t instantaneous, but that it takes some work.

“It takes time,” he said. “We were off for five months without really connecting, so we’ve got to play more as a team.”

But he said everybody is committed to improving their game and that the chemistry and teamwork will come together as the season develops. As much as the Jazz organization hoped to have its players hit the ground running, it’s still a squad that has to work together and build on that chemistry.

Last season there was a reason for the closeness as the Jazz were backed into the corner and needed to come together to have any chance at making an improbable playoff spot. Now, with a little bit of momentum and talk about the Jazz being one of the best teams in the Western Conference, the Jazz have to find a way to manufacture that camaraderie and still enjoy playing as a team.

That’s not to say the Jazz have fractures in the team chemistry; it’s that there just isn’t instant success because of the previous season. Or as Snyder put it after the game: “the communication with each other on the floor, that’s what allows you to compete collectively.”

Donovan Mitchell absence hurt Utah

Without their star guard, the Jazz were a little disjointed on the offensive side of the ball, and there wasn’t a lot of playmaking happening. It was more of a lackluster effort on offense in an attempt to get an open bucket. To Memphis’ credit, they forced the Jazz to take highly-contested shots in the post and forced the Jazz to beat them on the perimeter.

And in the first half, the Jazz did just that. They managed to hit from deep as Rubio and Joe Ingles paced the Jazz to a 12-point lead. But when the shots stopped falling, other than Jae Crowder heating up from deep late in the game, the Jazz had little momentum to go on in the second half as the Grizzlies erased the double-digit lead to claim a 13-point lead of their own.

Mitchell is not necessarily the catalyst to the Jazz offense, but his prowess at attacking the basket is second to none on the team. At the very least, Mitchell forces the defense to collapse to the basket in an effort to stop the easy bucket. It’s here where he’s either able to finish or pop it out to one of his teammates on the perimeter for an open 3-pointer.

On Friday, there was little of that happening on the offensive side of the ball. Passes into the post or around the perimeter were lazy and oftentimes deflected, and there wasn’t a huge sense of urgency to work as a team or share the ball.

It’s only one game, but it’s clear that Memphis has found the key to keep the Jazz from playing effectively and as a team. While it’s still too early to panic, there are several areas where the Jazz can improve if it wishes to return to the playoffs and claim a top spot in the Western Conference.

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