Utah Jazz: Taking Note(s) of a small market team

Despite playing in a small market, the surging Utah Jazz are more than your typical small-market NBA team. Here’s why people should be taking note.

Poise.

The Utah Jazz have won 25 of their last 30 games, good for sixth place in the Western Conference.

The leading scorer on a team is a 21 year-old rookie who wasn’t supposed to be this good this fast. Yet he’s averaging 20.3 points per game, and has caused the rest of the league to take note.

Their main 7’2″ pillar on defense, with a 9’7″ standing reach, has missed 26 games, but with him back in the lineup, opponents only score 100.1 points per game against them, good for second in the whole league.

So who are the Jazz? I’m still figuring it out – but I can tell you what I do know.

The Jazz may (currently) be a mere sixth place in the Western Conference, but it would not surprise me in the slightest if they knocked out a higher seed in the first round of the playoffs. Screenshot that, share it with your friends, bring it back up to me if they get swept – I won’t come at you on my burner accounts. I believe that. Utah is that good.

As a good basketball fan though, it’s one thing for some new beat writer to just write that a team is a good and hope that his opinion is enough. You want facts, statistics, proof… right? Well, I’m not X, but I’m going to give it to ya.

The Facts

I don’t care whether you’re a Jazz fan, haven’t watched a minute of Jazz basketball this season or in your life, or you only pay attention to your favorite team or players – you should know that the Jazz are a darn good defensive team. Here are the facts, courtesy of Basketball-Reference:

• The Jazz allow the second-fewest field goals attempted by opponents (82.8 per game), and third-fewest field goals made per game (37.4).
• Utah holds opponents to the sixth-lowest field goal percentage (45.1 percent).
• While it’s not often regarded as a defensive stat, the Jazz only allow opponents to grab an average of 8.6 offensive rebounds a game, good for third in the league.

The most notable one of all? The Jazz hold opponents to just 20.0 assists per game.

Now, I’ve given you the facts, let’s give you some proof.

Take this play from a game against the Toronto Raptors in late January. While the finish by Mitchell is nice, keep an eye on two things here: Joe Ingles and Ricky Rubio (more on him later).

Off the Lowry miss you can see both Jonas Jerebko and Gobert trying to secure the rebound, and even after Jerebko finally secures the board, he awkwardly scoops it to Rubio. He in turn, catches it below his knees before delivering a pin point pass to a streaking Mitchell for a slam. All within about four seconds.

I also told you to pay attention to Ingles. Go back and watch the play again – it’s another 15 seconds of your life.

Ingles does three great things on this play that (probably) went unnoticed when you first watched the clip:

1. He makes sure his teammates have secured the rebound before running down the court.
2. He keeps his head on a swivel in case Rubio decides not to try to thread the needle with multiple Raptors already back on defense.
3. He finds his spot, and is ready for the kick-out in case Mitchell decides not to try to take it to the hoop.

This is just one example on defense (yes reader, I know you can count!), but let’s take a look at Utah on offense, something they’re not necessarily known for (103.4 points per game) or particularly good at. You wouldn’t know that though, watching some of these highlights.

Take a look at some of these plays from a recent contest against the Memphis Grizzlies.

At around the 34-second mark in the video, Ingles comes off a screen from Mitchell, and starts to take it into the lane, causing Memphis Grizzlies defenders to collapse the lane in an effort to deter Ingles from continuing to drive. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, Ingles isn’t just an excellent spot-up shooter – he’s arguably the Jazz’s second best ball-handler. Ingles switches to his right and just when you think the ball is going to leave his hand for a shot attempt, he makes a slick pass to a cutting Derrick Favors for an easy two points.

A little farther along in the video at the 1:09 mark, Mitchell runs a pick-and-roll with Gobert. Mitchell’s primary defender Kobi Simmons runs into all 245 pounds of Gobert, which frees Mitchell to drive into the lane. As the play continues to develop, Gobert’s initial defender (Ivan Rabb) is forced to try to recover to block Mitchell’s shot, but because he was already at an angle to stay with Gobert off the pick-and-roll, Mitchell accelerates to the basket for the hoop and harm.

The best part about that play? Mitchell actually had four options off that pick – drive like he did in hopes of scoring and/or drawing an and-one, wrapping a pass around to Gobert for (most likely) a dunk, kicking it out to an open Jae Crowder, who then, in turn, could fling it to Joe Ingles, the third best 3-point shooter in the league at 44.3 percent, right behind, (you guessed it!) Darren Collison and Reggie Bullock. Are the Jazz the best team in the league? No, but sometimes, the sum of its parts are greater than its whole.

Next: 2017-18 Week 24 NBA Power Rankings

Do you remember when I said that the Jazz have upset potential? It’s plays like these that make me believe it. They don’t try to force things, even in transition. The players know their roles, and they do no more, no less. That’s great coaching. That’s trust among teammates. That’s poise.