The Jazz are... *checks notes* 5-2? With four of those five wins coming over playoff teams from last season? How is Utah doing it? By finding a new hero every night, writes tjonesonthenba.
come in. All three are very good off the dribble, and are good pick-and-roll players. With teams having to guard the big men outside of the paint and above the 3-point line, the guards are getting into the lane almost any time they want.
“When we have Lauri and Kelly on the floor together, they have to put their center on somebody,” Hardy said. “And that gives our guards more spacing. We’re continuing to learn and to adjust as we go. When I look at our roster, I see a lot of guys who can do a lot of things. But I don’t see a lot of isolation players. So, we want to involve multiple people, and we want to do the things that play to the strengths of our roster.
Adjustment is a key word here, because Hardy has made several adjustments on the fly to the personnel that he has on the floor. Take Saturday night, for example. With Conley resting on the back-to-back, Sexton played 30 minutes for his first time in a Jazz uniform. But Hardy stressed that Sexton does it differently than Conley. Conley is more of a floor general and a game manager. He’s a master at getting people in the right places at the right times and running the offense. Sexton is much more of a scorer and someone who creates his own offense. Hardy wants Sexton to play to what he does best, so he’s empowered that. He’s not tasking Sexton with worrying about running the offense.
When this team was in the final stages of being put together, the front office suspected scoring wouldn’t be an issue. The surprise is that the Jazz are playing so well offensively in the game’s closing minutes. Because closing minutes are for the star-level players, and the Jazz obviously don’t have one of those at the moment.Utah’s closed better than its opponent in multiple games to this point, with different guys stepping up for money shots.