Welcome to the B-Ball Brunch. Enjoy reading about my NBA musings about last night during your brunch hours.
The Jazz have won four straight games.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune.)
Hey, man. The Utah Jazz are pretty good.
The L.A. teams have been getting most of the spotlight in the West. Rightfully so. The Lakers are 8-2 and the Clippers are 7-3. Plus they have some of the biggest names in the NBA. They DO deserve the credit.
But, hey, the Jazz are doing quite peachy themselves. They’re 8-3. They’ve won four straight games. And they began this winning streak by beating two of the East‘s best in Philadelphia and Milwaukee. And then they came back from 15 down on a tail end of a back-to-back against Brooklyn.
Of course, they’re winning with defense; that’s been their calling card for a while. They’re ranked second in defensive rating (points allowed per possession) right behind those pesky Lakers.
It helps when you have two-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in the middle. Nobody is getting inside when he’s there.
I’m pretty sure we all thought the Jazz defense was going to get worse with their team deciding to get more offense in the offseason. That hasn’t been the case. Mike Conley has had a rough start offensively but he seems to have regained some mojo on defense. Bojan Bogdanovic has been better than expected. Donovan Mitchell hasn’t been bad, either. And another acquisition, Emmanuel Mudiay, has been surprisingly good on that side of the ball. It must be the influence that the Stifle Tower has but the personnel still has to do their jobs and they have.
The offensive rating (points per possession) is still in the bottom 10 but the last two games have been encouraging. Utah scored 122 and then 119 in those contests. And they can do some target practice when they visit the Grizzlies on Friday. I also think Conley and Joe Ingles will find their offensive rhythm soon. They haven’t shot well but it’s a long season.
Mitchell’s game has certainly been better this season (25.1 PPG). He’s getting whatever he wants in the paint and has generally shot better (career-best .484). I’m sure the analytics people are going to go mad when they see that his midrange attempts are up and the three-point attempts are down but it’s working for him so far. He’s also rebounding more (5.2 boards per) and, as mentioned, playing better defense. Not bad for 6’1″, right?
We’re still waiting for the Jazz to break through in the playoffs (first round exit last year and second round exits the two years before that). It’s a TOUGH Western Conference so it’s even more difficult to say if this is the year. But it’s a good start so far. Plus a lot of people seem to be sleeping on them at the moment.
Bullet Passes
I’ll likely expand on this down the season but it just gets on my nerves when people say that Kyle Kuzma is NOT good (he was everyone’s flavor when he was a rookie but people can turn on you in an instant). Kuzma hit two clutch threes in the Lakers win over the very good Suns. He’s still working his way back from his injury.
Like I mentioned many times, he can get buckets. It can be REALLY hard for some NBA players to get buckets. Also, there are times when you see flashes of good defense. Everyone makes fun of his woes on that end but a lot of these are fundamental issues that can be fixed. I’m not saying he’s going to suddenly be Gary Payton or Ron Artest but he can be a solid defender. He’ll be forced to step it up because the Lakers have been AWESOME in defense this season.
I do believe Kuzma can be that #3 guy. He’s already shown some glimpses in these few games.
It IS the Western Conference so this could change by next week. But I’d probably be concerned if I’m a Blazers fan. 4-7 so far while getting an out-of-this-world season from Damian Lillard. He’s flirting with a 50-40-90 (50% on field goals, 40% on threes, and 90% from the line) campaign and averaging 32.5 points. It IS early but like I said, that WEST IS TOUGH.
The Knicks lost by 18 against the Bulls after Coby White sank SEVEN threes in the fourth! I suppose staying with their opponents with three quarters instead of two is an improvement? So that’s why there was no press conference from the front office?
Kidding. But man, this isn’t getting any better for the Knicks. Not that it has been any good for the last few years.
Trae Young continues to sizzle. 42-11-8 in an upset win against Denver. He is so so good.
I spotlighted the Jazz for winning but I can’t forget the Pacers. They’ve also won four straight and Victor Oladipo is on the horizon. Hmmmmmmm.
Tristan Thompson sank his second and third CAREER three-pointers against the Sixers. I wish he made THIS, though:
(VIDEO CREDIT: SilentAssassin.)
He still had four ticks on the shot clock. I love it when people are not aware of the clock.
Watch This Play
Trae Young goes five-hole on Will Barton!
(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)
And he stares down the bench right after! Love the attitude.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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