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SALT LAKE CITY — Michael Myers? Jason? Freddie Krueger? Pennywise?
None of them could compare to Utah Jazz fans' true Halloween villain: Memphis forward Dillon Brooks.
Brooks, who was already not one of Utah's favorites due to some previous antics during the 2021 playoff series against the Jazz (not to mention some stuff from his Oregon days), curiously decided to taunt Mike Conley by deliberately stepping over him. A silly move, no matter what — an even sillier one considering his team was down by 16 points.
Brooks may have played the role of the villain; Utah, though, had plenty of heroes.
Utah dressed up as a Western Conference playoff contender for Halloween, and it's a look they might not be taking off anytime soon. No, this isn't the Twilight Zone; the Jazz might just be that good.
Utah rolled Memphis 121-105 Monday to close the first calendar month of the season with a surprising 6-2 record.
Lauri Markkanen had 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting and added 12 rebounds to lead the Jazz to their second-straight victory over Memphis. He hit four 3-pointers and added four blocks, as well — and none was more memorable than his swat on Brooks that raised the decibel level at Vivint Arena to playoff levels.
Brooks made a good villain; Markkanen made a better hero.
The Jazz used a 16-4 run in the third quarter to push their lead to 23 points; and by the middle of the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies waved the white flag.
"It's hard to beat a team twice in a row. I thought our guys adjusted very well from Game 1 to Game 2, especially on the offensive end," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
Conventional wisdom said the Grizzlies would be the team that would take advantage of some adjustments. They were the more experienced team, and they got Ja Morant back in the lineup after he missed Saturday's contest with an illness (the Grizzlies, however, were without starting shooting guard Desmond Bane this time around).
Yet, the Grizzlies didn't seem to have many answers for Utah's relentless passing and motion attack. Utah shot 19-of-47 from behind the 3-point line and had 26 assists. And when they found some defense in the second quarter, they quickly got some separation from the Grizzlies.
Utah forced eight turnovers in the second quarter, which helped fuel a 20-3 run by the Jazz.
"I thought that our guys really competed on the ball very well in pick and roll," Hardy said. "And they did a very good job of mixing — going over and going under. When Lauri was playing at the five, I thought that his ability to drop and protect the basket was very good."
Memphis was held to 41% shooting from the field, and was only 6-of-26 from 3-point range. Those 3-point stats were notable — both for the low percentage and the low number of attempts (the Jazz, for comparison, put up 47 3-point attempts).
For Malik Beasley, who had 18 points, four assists and four rebounds, he said it's Utah's ability to switch things up on the defensive end that has made the Jazz, a team full of players not exactly known for their defensive prowess, effective.
"You never know what we're gonna do," he said. "You don't know if we are going to switch one through five. I think versatility is what makes us so good."
It certainly worked on Monday.
Even though Morant was otherworldly for Memphis and scored 37 points on 12-of-18 shooting, the Grizzlies, as a whole, were ineffective.
Brooks had 19 points, and Tyus Jones added 12 points. That duo, along with Morant, were the only Grizzlies in double figures.
Following Brooks' antics, Memphis was able to cut Utah's lead to 10 points, but a 19-6 run — which included Markkanen's crowd pleasing block on a Brooks' layup attempt — set the stage for an easy finish for Utah.
"The message was, 'Let's just focus on the main thing; let's not let anything that's going on on the court take us out of our execution, take us out of our ability to think and communicate while the game's going on,'" Hardy said. "There's always talking in a basketball game between teams. I didn't think they necessarily impacted the game a ton tonight, but at that moment, when it got a little bit heated, I thought our guys responded very well and just refocused on the task at hand."
And that was adding yet another surprising one to the win column.
