Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 108-93 win over the New York Knicks from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Season high in blocks for Utah
Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside took 3 shots tonight. Not each, total.
But I think they were the dominant facet of this game. The Jazz had their season high in blocks as a team with 11 — Gobert had four, Whiteside three. And the Knicks’ particular insistence on repeatedly attacking the rim, and the Jazz’s particular excellence in protecting the rim, meant that as soon as the Knicks stopped being uber-hot from three, the Jazz could win long stretches of the game.
Like, take this: it’s Julius Randle just going to work, but the Jazz defend it well: Royce O’Neale makes Randle work for it, and Gobert can come help when he wants. In fact, Gobert even gets pumpfaked at first, and he’s still just in position to make the block anyway.
Does this work in most of the basketball leagues of the world? Sure. Does it work in the National Basketball Association? Especially against Whiteside or Gobert? There’s no chance.
Look, us folks who watch the Jazz a lot know the difference between teams who attack the Jazz well and those who don’t. The biggest difference is when teams are able to bring Gobert or Whiteside out of the paint, and then use that space inside to get layups, or force the rest of the defense to collapse and get kickouts for threes. But with the Knicks starting a bad shooter in Randle and a non-shooter in Mitchell Robinson, Gobert or Whiteside can just always be pretty much be exactly where they want.
It all meant that the Knicks shot just 11-23 within four feet of the rim, and went a further 2-11 between four and 14 feet. Without that facet of offense, the Jazz could allow a good number of threes and free throws, and it just didn’t matter, because the Knicks never had the bedrock of inside baskets.
2. Jordan Clarkson playing with the defender’s expectations
Clarkson has his third consecutive 20-point game on Sunday night, and it’s come at the right time, as the Jazz have missed some combination of Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Donovan Mitchell in those games. They’ve all been efficient performances, too.
After the game, I talked to Clarkson about his tempo — the deliberate, but purposeful kind of play that gets players like Luka Doncic and James Harden to be at their best. While Clarkson obviously isn’t that good as those stars, it’s a useful lesson: you don’t have to go 100 miles an hour to be successful in the NBA.
This triple-pump fake in the paint was highly enjoyable.
But watch: every pumpfake has a purpose, and each essentially eliminates a defender. I don’t think I’d love Clarkson’s odds if he just tried the initial layup, but here, he has success.
I also think that is a good balance for his natural inclination to pull the trigger.
He pumpfakes once he catches the ball here, but doesn’t get the bite, runs pick and roll, jumps to shoot, and then kicks to Juancho. It’s essentially two iffy Clarkson shots traded away for one good Jazz shot — and I think that’s a worthwhile trade to make.
“That’s the type of pace I have to play at. I’m able to read what the defense is doing with ball fakes, shot fakes,” Clarkson said. “Just try to stay patient but aggressive.”
3. Rolls Royce
This isn’t new by any means, but I do think it’s a clever solution to the problem of “Royce O’Neale won’t shoot the ball in the fourth quarter.”
Instead of making him into a shooting threat — one that teams are too eager to leave in order to double-team Mitchell — Snyder makes him into a rolling threat. If he catches the ball in the paint, you just do have to do something about it.
That video shows how he can essentially read the whole defense in the paint as well: when he catches the ball, he’s looking at the closest shooter Clarkson, and then as he takes he two steps, he twists towards the rim and then ultimately to the 3-point shooter on the other side.
I think, in the playoffs, teams who double Mitchell are going to have to worry about this. I think, if I was one of those teams, I’d probably tell my shooting defenders to stay home and force O’Neale to make a lob pass or finish at the rim, which he probably doesn’t want to do? But it’s a unique way for the Jazz to generate a 2-for-1.
Quin Snyder also pointed out that the Jazz have gotten much better at delivering that pass to O’Neale. Look at Mitchell’s fakery, pointing low as if the screen is coming, then throwing the ball high where the defense isn’t looking.
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