NBA, Video / Apr 22, 2009 / 9:15 am

Are The Jazz Playing Soft?

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After the Jazz lost to the Lakers in Game 1, Jerry Sloan came out and said that his squad wasn’t playing “nasty enough.”

Then they show up for Game 2 and get trounced in what was a virtual repeat in so many ways of Game 1. But did we see the same results in the second game because the Jazz lacked effort or because the Lakers are just that good?

“The one constant during Jerry Sloan’s career has been defense,” writes SI’s Arash Markazi. “He was one of the most feared defenders in the league as a player and instilled that same toughness into every team he’s coached. That is until this season. Even at 67, Sloan might be the nastiest defender on the Jazz bench if he wanted to slip on a uniform. At least he might have slowed down the Lakers, who once again jumped out to an early 20-point lead.”

As Markazi points out, the Jazz committed only one foul during the first quarter, as L.A. steamrolled out to a 41-27 lead. The Lakers went on to score 66 points in the first half without anyone on the Jazz standing up to L.A.’s offensive onslaught.

But if we’re going to point the finger at Utah for being soft defensively, then at least let’s be accurate about who is getting the blame on that squad. Their perimeter defenders were making life tough for cutters, playing them physically as they came through the lane. It was just that once they got into the lane, neither Carlos Boozer nor Jarron Collins could do much of anything to stop them. Pau Gasol had far too many easy baskets against C-Booz in one-on-one post matchups, and it felt like everyone was abusing Collins. Check out Gasol’s fight for an offensive board against Kirilenko at the 1:45 mark of the clip above. He didn’t have position, he just wanted it more than AK-47. Kobe‘s bucket against Kirilenko, Boozer and Paul Millsap at the 3:30 mark could actually make Jerry Sloan’s head explode. He drove all of those guys to the low block and no one really got up to contest his shot – they just let him get it off no problem.

Maybe this time, Jerry Sloan should single out the guys who aren’t giving top-notch effort – the guys who have to protect the paint.

Source: SI

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  • doc

    yeah they playing like pussies except for D-Will.Name names its playoff time.

  • http://www.myspace.com/beenobrown BERN BROGDEN

    Lakers are just more talented than the Jazz.
    Bottomline.

  • Kobeef

    BREAKING NEWS

    Derrick Rose to be named Rookie of the Year today

  • Yucca Man

    Actually, this Jazz team is probably as talented as the Lakers. Sloan said at the beginning of the year that this is easily the most talented team he’s ever coached.

    The problem is that AK-47 has stopped playing like loose balls, blocks, and rebounds matter. And I won’t even get into Boozer’s defense. Easily the worst I’ve seen in all my years watching the Jazz. Okur (bummer he’s out) is about 10 times the defender Boozer is, which is incredibly sad when you get down to it. Millsap at least has toughness, but that doesn’t make him a good defender, either.

    Neither Williams nor Brewer are bad at all. But there’s only so much you can do when the back line can’t stop a butterfly.

  • karizmatic

    The Lakers a just more talented than The Jazz. They are better than the Jazz at the 2 and 3 positions, and Arguably a wash at the four. The Jazz lack a good starting center, and the Lakers are way deeper. They are just more talented.

  • dk

    The Lake show is just ridiculous. Go ahead and play ” dirty ” or ” rough ” D and youll be in a whole world of Hell! My friends jumped on the Jazz bandwagon! Lmao now that they see how a truly oiled machine runs…..

  • dk

    @4 get off the pipe… Its tough being Ak when your up against a 7′ pf and a 7′ center, then toss in little Lamar Odum and life as a bully gets rough….

  • Sanpitch

    only “nasty” players on the jazz are brewer, millsap, harpring and williams. you can through in the “garbage twin” for his foul last night on brown. but that’s it.

    jazz need to get rid of boozer and kirilenko to become “nasty” again.

  • LakeShow84

    No we just that good..

    They are a good team @ 48-34 and just a month ago were considered our only real competetion but we got size, quickness and depth on them..

    and any other team in the league..

  • frankie

    I don’t think that anyone’s surprised that the Jazz haven’t gotten close to beating one of the best teams in the League.

    But yea, not having your starting center will hurt your interior defense? Who knew? That having been said, I looked up a few times last night and saw Kyle Korver of all people making plays left and right. I was impressed by him, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, and Shannon Brown last night.

  • the antoine

    yah because okur is a solid interior defender

  • Bifflefeet Bigsby

    Yo, for real, the jazz aint got no place ballin wit da lakers, its ridic, they in a diff class

  • http://allthatjazzbasketball.blogspot.com/ Amar

    jazz don’t lack a good starting center, they are just playing w/o one. Okur AVG 21.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 1.5 spg, 55.6 fg%, 44.4 3pt% and 100.0 ft% vs. the Lakers this season.

    in two games the jazz lost by a combined 23 points.

    again, okur scores 21.5 EACH GAME against LA on average.

  • http://allthatjazzbasketball.blogspot.com/ Amar

    #11 solid enough to give yao ming fits in the playoffs in single coverage . . .

  • dk

    lol Here come the idiots… Memo lmao I cant wait to see his numbers when his old ass comes back. He better hope his shot is on becasue thats all hes gonna get, some open looks….

  • http://allthatjazzbasketball.blogspot.com/ Amar

    lol @ name calling . . . that really makes your opinion better.

    his ‘old ass’, dude kobe is older than memo.

  • dagwaller

    A.) Memo is only 29 years old.

    B.) He’s a former All-Star that ranked 17th in defensive boards this year, 11th out of centers. Is he Dwight Howard? No. Is he Jarron Collins, though? No.

    C.) Hey, dk, are you so idiotic that you think that Okur couldn’t have helped even just a little bit in this series?! Replacing a player whose PER is 19 with one whose PER is 9? Let’s just assume that their defense is the same (Collins’s block numbers are 1 block in 200 minutes of playing time this year, Okur’s are .8 bpg in 33.5 mpg this year, so maybe I’m being too kind to Collins). Okur is averaging 17 ppg on 48.5 percent this year. Collins, 1.5 ppg on 45.7 percent.

    So, the Antoine and dk, before you start dissing Okur, think a little bit first. Or maybe just take a timeout from posting altogether.

  • LakeShow84

    regular season dont mean much Amar.. im sure we would just put LO on him to bother him and sacrifice our interior D too much..

    I can even see Ariza taking a turn on him.. if he comes back from a HAMSTRING injury he wont be dropping 20 nothing.. we wouldve won anyways but he mightve helped them win a couple more games..

    i aint trashin Memo but hes a scorer not a defender and they need to defend.. shit didnt we shoot 60% yesterday?

  • LakeShow84

    And personally i think Bynum would EAT him alive..

  • http://allthatjazzbasketball.blogspot.com/ Amar

    memo is more a scorer than a defender, very true. but he’s a much better defender inside than ANYONE the lakers have faced inside in this series. (defending 7′+ guys with 6’8 millsap, even though he’s an okay defender, is still a huge mismatch)

    memo has had success in single coverage against yao ming. ming > bynum.

    part of the problem is that the jazz are doubling inside, leaving shooters open. why? because boozer and collins can’t defend shit inside. so help comes, leaving guys like ariza and brown with shots about half as open as octomom’s snatch. (which is still very wide open)

    bynum hasn’t impressed me in this series at all. he’s a good guy for the future, and his defense and lenth really discourage driving — but it’s not like that wasn’t already the case with gasol.

    while memo is better on defense than boozer — his true strength is in floor spacing. utah has no floor spacing on offense right now because no one can hit a three. memo allows for less help in the paint, making life easier for everyone as a defender actually can’t just keep his foot in the paint anymore, someone actually has to guard him (memo shoots almost 50% from three).

    yes, the playoffs and the regular season are completely different — I agree. but to think that memo doesn’t help at all is really abject homerism of the worst kind. bynum is way better than DJ, right? well, memo is way better than collins. collins shouldn’t ever have to play again.

  • dagwaller

    The root of my point is this: Do you think that Memo is worth 11 points over a guy whose PER, according to Hollinger’s guide, implies that he’s “definitely renting”? 11.0, according to the guide, is “scrounging for minutes” and that’s 2.0 BETTER than Collins.

    I don’t think that the Jazz would win the series, but Jarron Collins? Really? Jarron Collins? People in Boston and San Antonio get upset when they have Big Baby and Roger Mason Jr. as their new starters. Next to Jarron Collins, those two are All-Stars.

  • http://allthatjazzbasketball.blogspot.com/ Amar

    yeah, i’m not saying that Utah is going to win the series, it’ll be a struggle for them to tie it up 2-2. but collins is really *really* bad. and memo is quite better than him on both sides of the ball.

    missing him in a game that was 3 pts with 3 mins remaining, without his three point shooting, on the road, is pretty good for utah. it’s not like they lost by 36 points or whatever portland did AT HOME

  • LakeShow84

    I didnt say he wouldnt help at all Amar.. he will be a lot better than Collins out there..

    But the outcome wouldve been the same.. period.. but i feel the floor spacing.. thats why i dont think we would cover him with our PF or C.. we would move LO or Ariza into the SF spot and let their atheltiscm pester him..

    And quit bringing up Memo being able to guard Yao lol

  • dapro

    A couple things to consider, the Jazz suck on the road

    So them going 0-2 on LA was a given

    If they had Memo it would a slight difference on D

    and Helleva difference on O

    Memo spaces the floor and opens the game for drive and dish with Dwill.

    Boozer has trouble with longer big men, he doesn’t use his size to out muscle them

    Jazz will win game 3

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