Bring Your ‘A’ Game

Posted by David Locke on May 09, 2008

 
‘Let’s Do This’ (Melissa Majchrzak – NBAE/Getty Images)

People in the NBA love to tell you a series hasn’t started until the home team losses a game.  It is a neat little phrase, but I think it was made up by those who are down 0-2, like the Jazz, so they have something to cling to.  History shows only 6% of teams have ever recovered from being down 0-2.  However, no team has ever recovered from 0-3, so I’ll take our 6% and run with it.

Desperation

I hope the Jazz watched San Antonio vs. New Orleans last night.  The Spurs were literally grabbing, hitting, holding, throwing elbows, and anything else you can imagine.  They were down right nasty.  They were desperate, and it showed in everything they did.  They were the animal trapped in a corner that was going to find a way out no matter what it took.  If I were the Jazz coaching staff, I would be tempted to have my team watch the first 6 minutes of the third quarter.  It was impressive to see a group collectively want to win that badly.

Brilliance

One of our main players is going to have to be brilliant tonight.  We are moving past the moment where breakdowns, numbers, and scouting reports matter.  This has to be about basketball genius.

The Lakers have the MVP, who happens to be capable of basketball brilliance every night.  Rarely has any NBA player preformed at the level Kobe is at right now.  His ability to both score every possession, and create something out of nothing for his teammates, is virtually un-guardable.  To match that, someone in a Jazz uniform has to make us shake our head in amazement when we leave EnergySolutions Arena.

Discomfort

At two critical points in this series, (2nd Quarter of Game 1 and the second part of the 1st Quarter of Game 2,) the Jazz offense completely fell apart.  This results in guys going one on one, dribbling into traffic, and eventually turning the ball over.

The Lakers deserve some credit for creating this.  The Jazz offense has been the best system in the NBA for the past 20 years.  However, to make it run correctly, players need to be in certain spots, and the ball needs to be in certain places.  The Lakers are not allowing the Jazz to get to those spots.  Therefore, guys are catching passes in places where they aren’t comfortable being.  In other words, Jazz players are getting in positions where they feel they need to go 1 on 1, and we aren’t a good 1 on 1 team.  A good example of this is how Derek Fisher is restricting Deron Williams from going where he wants to on a pick and roll.

The Lakers triangle offense is similar to the Jazz offensive system.  It needs to get to certain spots, and then the offense flows from there.  However, if you can knock them off those spots, then the continuity of their offense will be off.  In the end, that will impact what shots they are able to get.

The Jazz need to achieve this by throwing different looks, apply occasional full-court pressure or a soft full-court trap.  We need to force the Lakers to use up the shot clock, so they have less chance of swinging the ball from one side to the other.  This will limit some of the cuts they like to create with their offense.

Thus far, the Lakers have not had enough discomfort in this series.  Yesterday, we talked about how fast they are playing, and it’s the Utah’s responsibility to slow them down.

1320 K-Fan’s Locked on Sports starts today at 3 PM, from EnergySolutions arena.  We will have KJZZ’s Pace Mannion on at 4 PM and Craig Bolerjack on at 5 PM.  Remember, you can watch tonight’s game on KJZZ.

See you cheering at the arena.

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