It went pretty much like I thought it would go. When we got them in single big lineup, we dominate them. Their double big lineup was even with us in the 12 1/2 minutes they played together. They went 12 of 16 from 2 with the majority of those makes and misses at the rim and all their 2-point shots within the paint area. They were only 1 for 5 from 3 in those lineups. And 4 for 4 from the line. Their single big lineups got torched. They were -32 in single big lineups, shooting 16/34 from 2 and 6/22 from 3 with a lot of those misses being long to midrange 2's. That's a stark contrast. Incidentally, the free throw disparity was mostly them forcing foul...... which was offset by their turnovers... the other product of their over aggression. I do maintain I think we'll win this series. So this result does not surprise me. They are dinged. And they didn't shoot well. But I do feel there is upset potential here, especially is they decide to roll out double big lineups featuring Gobert/Favors/Udoh for the greater majority of minutes.
As I stated above that was with Crowder, etc. without Favors. We crushed them. With Favors beside him they played us even.
Well the answer to defending Utah is really... having Zhou Qi... and we don't have him anymore... so I don't know what we will do.
The Jazz had some success with their 2-big lineup against us. Not so much on the offensive glass, which is what I was concerned about, but they both had a bunch of dunks diving to the basket that we had no chance of stopping. We don’t need to have an answer for every single advantage they have. Just make sure our advantages outshine theirs, which is what we saw in game 1. Game 2 will almost certainly be more competitive.
I logged in just for this update!! LOL "ohh noo how we gonna defend Rubio and Jae Crowder" if the guys were hitting more of the wide open shots that the stupid defense of Utah was allowing then we win by 50. Utah needs to go ask Pat Beverly what Plan B is!
They just flat out don't have enough weapons to really threaten us. I honestly think they are the third best team in the west. I would pick them in a 7 game series against anybody besides us and GS. But as a playoff match up for us they are very safe. They have a lot going on for them. Another great scorer could actually put them in title contention...but that player isn't there now, so a steady series from us will end this in 5 games.
Do you actually think that playing Ekpe Udoh for anything more than spot minutes would be a good thing for them?
Reasonable. I think a healthy Korver would make a big difference. And I don't think Favors is healthy either.
