Summer League: Tacko Fall leads Utah to win over Dallas

SALT LAKE CITY — The chants at the Salt Lake City Summer League grew louder as the games went on.

"Tacko, Tacko, Tacko." A large portion of the Salt Lake-based crowd yelled.

There were a couple things in play that led to Utah fans' quick obsession with Tacko Fall: He's a name that people recognized (and the Summer Jazz had very little name recognition, and he's 7-foot-6; that in and of itself is interesting.

And based on Monday night in Las Vegas, those Jazz fans may have been on to something as they begged and pleaded for the Jazz staff to put Fall in the game.

He had 12 points and 15 rebounds as Utah beat Dallas 83-82 to improve to 2-0 at the Las Vegas Summer League.

Fall made the game-winning play when he rebounded a Jared Butler miss with less than 2 seconds remaining. That was one of an eye-popping 12 offensive rebounds for Fall; it turns out being 7-foot-6 has its advantages.

"Just being aggressive," Fall told NBA TV after the win. "This game I just made a conscious effort to come out there and be aggressive. Going into my fourth year in the league, I have to come in here and do that, so that was my whole focus."

Fall was 5 of 10 from the field and finished with three blocks. The center, who was signed by current Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge when he was in Boston, said his goal is to find a path to stick with an organization.

"I'm always humble," Fall said. "That's how I always approach things. That's why I've been able to take steps throughout my career. Just always have a clear mind and a clear goal in mind and always stay humble and just work hard."

If he does end up with the regular season Jazz, he'll have plenty of fans already.

Other notes from Monday:

Jared Butler's shooting: The Summer Jazz are Butler's team. He's the second-year guard that the franchise is hopeful can take the next step. Yet, the one trait people were most confident in (his ability to score), has been the thing he's struggled with the most.

Butler has done pretty well running the team. He's made good reads for the most part, and has done a good job setting up teammates (he finished with 10 assists on Monday). But he has really struggled to shoot.

Butler was 3 of 22 from the field against Dallas. It would be one thing if he was just missing shots, but he's really struggled to gain separation to get clean looks. His moves have needed too many dribbles and he's often had to settle for step-back 3s as a result. He was 0 for 10 from 3-point range on Monday.

There's been growth to his game, but he has to rediscover ways to score more efficiently now in the NBA.

Leandro Bolmaro's handle: Balmaro uses his tall frame and a decent handle to get to where he wants on the court. The Jazz used the 6-foot-6 wings' size and driving ability to initiate plenty of offensive sets on Monday.

But he has a tendency to force passes, and his touch has to improve for him to stick around the league. Sure, he can get to his "spots," but it would be hard to say anywhere is truly his spot. Take, for example, one of the final plays of the game: He got himself a wide-open step-back 3-pointer in the final minute that would have sealed the game, but it clanked off the rim. And that result was expected.

Bolmaro was 3 of 12 from the field, and just 3 of 10 from inside the 3-point line.

Johnny Juzang's big shot: Juzang's 3-pointer with 34 seconds left stopped a big Dallas rally in the final minutes and helped Utah secure the victory.

Juzang, who missed all of Salt Lake City Summer League after being in a car accident, had 11 points and was 3 for 3 from behind the arc. The rest of the Jazz were 6 of 26 combined from 3-point range.

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