The Jazz desperately needed a shining light in the pit of darkness they’d fallen into. Sure, they went toe to toe with LA, Memphis and San Antonio, but they couldn’t capitalise on early leads they had no business having in the first place.
But on these Halloween festivities, the only ‘trick’ is Jazz fans having the hope of the team turning things around in just one year—at least through the first six games this season. The Jazz were completely overwhelmed in the Delta Center in a troubling 112-90
finish.
It took 2:10 minutes for the Jazz to take the lid off the basket by the way of a Darryn Peterson triple. Blazers missed their first three shots; the Jazz missed their first two, with both teams collecting a turnover each. Shooting woes continued, which the Blazers took advantage of to take a 17-0 run. Toumani Camara was able to terrorize whichever Jazz player was bringing the ball up, contributing to six turnovers at the end of the first quarter. Though there was some silver lining in seeing the Jazz close with their own mini 11-4 run on 100% shooting. Between Keyonte and Peterson, there was always at least one starter on the floor.
Then the Blazers regained a 16-point cushion after the Jazz gave away yet another 16-8 run on 3-for-3 shooting. There was no synergy at all; players were taking low-percentage shots and couldn’t recover on the defensive end. The Jazz made no effort to fight back; they didn’t push back on half-court defense, and Portland got what it wanted inside. After Utah crept within 12, Deni Avdija burst with a late seven points to restore a 17-point lead at the half; 19 points in total. For the Jazz, DP led all players with an 11-point double-digit performance. Hardy seemed to believe in his performance, considering he also led all Jazz players with 17 first-half minutes.
The lead just kept extending in the second half. Holiday and Avdja both hit consecutive three-pointers to help build a 25-point lead for Portland. There were yet another eight turnovers in the third quarter for the Jazz, who also shot 35% from the field. The fourth quarter was all the indicator of a blowout loss as soon as Will Hardy waved the white flag.
Ultimately, this was a game that showed how much the Jazz need to improve if they want to hang with the teams at a Playoff level. The lack of synergy, bench talent or even decent roster construction has been this team’s shortcoming.
Obviously, having Jusuf Nurkic back would help, unlocking pathways in the offense that currently can’t be run with Hayes, nor Bamba. But there are a million other little tidbits I notice from this team every night that have me in a cold sweat of peril.
Darryn Peterson’s usage was a perfect dose
The rook was active on both ends of the floor. Peterson was zipping back and forth through all of Utah’s shortcomings tonight. He ended up finishing with 16 points on 6-15 shooting.
Without the hot hand from The Jazz’s top two scorers, the youngest player on the roster lived up to the occasion. We’re hoping that’s a mainstay moving forward
Old habits die hard
The turnover margin for this team is a handicap that will never allow this team to get in the win column, at least with the way they’re playing right now. That issue persisted, with 15 turnovers tonight, resulting in 18 points for the Blazers.
You can make excuses, like how a Toumani-Camara-led defense that consistently pesters opposing ball handlers is bound to result in unforced errors, but the Jazz are already a bottom-10 team when it comes to taking care of the ball. Just completing the first month of the basketball season, there’s little leeway for this group to give in to habits when they were tanking.
The woes of the Finnisher
This is certainly one of the worst starts for Lauri Markkanen, at least that I can remember. Even before the wrist sprain, Markkanen was shooting 39/35/88 shooting splits, barely able to get over the 16 PPG hump. Tonight, he was only able to record 13 points on 3-for-15 shooting and 2-for-11 from downtown.
Up Next
Utah drops to 1-5 with this loss, and lines up their next matchup in San Antonio on Monday night.
