Will Hardy: Jazz 'told on ourselves' in loss to Memphis

MEMPHIS — The Utah Jazz told on themselves Wednesday.

That's how Jazz coach Will Hardy explained the first five minutes of his team's 105-91 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExFourm.

Those opening minutes were everything Hardy wanted to see: quick decisions, multiple passes, clean spacing, and everyone touching the ball. The result? An early 15-7 lead.

"That was beautiful. That's how we want to play. I thought that was great carryover from our last two games," Hardy said. "And then I think as the game went on, especially in the first half, we just got away from it."

That's putting it lightly; things flipped fast.

"We almost told on ourselves," Hardy said.

Why? In one moment, the Jazz played exactly how they wanted to. The next, it was all gone.

The Grizzlies won the second quarter 36-17 to blow open the game, and led by as much as 25 points during the rout. The Jazz teased a comeback here and there in the second half, but a late push was too little and far too late.

So what was difference between the first few minutes and the rest of the game?

"We sort of reverted back to some old habits," Hardy said. "Breaking habits and forming new ones is hard. It takes an extreme amount of focus, especially when you're not playing in your gym."

In your own gym.

Utah's had a Jekyll-and-Hyde season thus far. The Jazz are a feisty, fun, and competitive team in Salt Lake City, and … um, something else away from it.

Utah is now 1-8 away from Salt Lake City this season, and all but one of those losses have come by double digits. The same things that doomed the Jazz in the earlier road contests returned in Memphis.

The ball stuck, players over-dribbled, and forced up poor shots in the paint.

The NBA's adage of it's a make-or-miss league doesn't usually refer to layups and dunks; tt did Wednesday. The Jazz shot an astoundingly bad 10-of-24 at the rim and went 18-of-44 in the paint.

Those are tough numbers to overcome. And while Jaren Jackson Jr. was phenomenal — six blocks and many more altered — on the defensive end for the Grizzlies, the Jazz made his job easy.

"When you have some really poor decisions made in the paint, poor finishing at the basket. leading to some runouts as well as some turnovers, it's hard," Hardy said. "The margins are thin."

Hardy said there were large chunks of the game — specifically the lopsided second quarter — that were stepbacks, but, overall, he believes the Jazz are trending in the right direction. Improvement isn't always linear, after all, but it was frustrating for him to see his team play so well early — only for it to flip so fast.

"For me, it comes back to just trust," Hardy said. "Are we going to just continue to do the things that are working and not get bored of making the simple play over and over again, even if that means I don't get to shoot for a little bit?"

On Wednesday, the answer was no. And the Jazz paid for it with a loss to a team that had yet to win a home game this season.

"When we've played our best basketball this season, it's never been about one person," Hardy said. "It's about everybody just taking what the game gives them, respecting our spacing, understanding what their job is on each possession based on where they are on the floor."

The Jazz had that for five minutes Wednesday.

They'll need it for a lot more going forward.

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