2020-21 Regular season- The tax team

[Xiao Yao You]

https://www.slcdunk.com/the-downbeat...-clippers-suns

So there you have it. Despite sitting at 6th (now 7th) in the West, Jazz fans are still most worried about seeing the Lakers in the playoffs. LA has not looked good lately. Even when LeBron James and Anthony Davis were both playing, they went 1-2 and looked broken. But this is LeBron James we are talking about. The defending champs. And the playoffs are coming. So I can certainly understand why they might still be considered the team to beat in a couple weeks.

more about Bojan having to cover Lebron or Davis than Lebron

Back to back for LA. The Suns went 3-0 against the Jazz this year and Utah fans are still more concerned about the Clippers. But I can understand that, especially since the most recent loss against Phoenix was a very short-handed one. That being said, the Jazz went 2-1 against the Clippers this year. I think the worry is again that now that it’s almost playoff time, Kawhi Leonard will round into his MVP-level form.

probably but the Suns have been the worse matchup this year

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2021/05/11/uta...-intimidation/

“So that aura that the winning teams have when they walk into the building, or when they play a game, Utah is missing that right now. And in order for them to gain that, they have to let it be known, so to speak, that they are the best team…Excuse me when I say it, that ‘badass aura’ is not there.”

hard to argue with it. Ersan would add a lot. He's smart, physical and good.

[Xiao Yao You]

https://thejnotes.com/2021/05/10/uta...-punk-fanbase/

who cares? another idiot that likes to hear himself

[Xiao Yao You]

https://fansided.com/2021/05/11/jazz...-spurs-go-off/

In Golden State’s 119-116 win on Tuesday night, the Warriors and Jazz combined for 86 attempts from beyond the arc and they made just 27 (31.4 percent). Curry made just 3-of-13, his second-worst percentage in the 27 games this season in which he attempted at least 13 shots from beyond the arc. On the other side, Jordan Clarkson went 5-of-16 and the Jazz made less than 30 percent of their 3s for just the seventh time in 69 games this season.

MVP Clarkson or the other one?

[Xiao Yao You]

https://fansided.com/2021/05/11/5-re...-championship/

Jordan Clarkson’s name has been in the running for the Sixth Man of the Year award since the first half of the regular season, and for good reason. He is a threat once he is called off the bench and onto the court. Through 65 games (with only one start), Clarkson is averaging career-highs in points (18.0 per game) and rebounds (4.1 per game), even if he’s only shooting 42 percent from the field.

too bad he sucks

2. Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley should be healthy

will they though? Need Conley. Should win in first round regardless

Defense is the calling card for Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, and it is the main reason why the team has dominated throughout the 2020-21 season. It certainly helps when they have Rudy Gobert, the runaway favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year award, starting at center.

Conley and Niang are the main reason for improved D though

[Xiao Yao You]

Andy Larsen: Quin Snyder on Joe Ingles’ versatility: “I talked to him earlier in the year about being a utility infielder — but first I had to explain to him what baseball was.”
– via Twitter andyblarsen

[Xiao Yao You]

Ben Anderson: Joe Ingles said Mike Conley will be rusty when he comes back from injury “because he’s old as hell.” Joe is 9 days older than Mike.
– via Twitter BensHoops

[Xiao Yao You]

Casey Holdahl: The Trail Blazers can clinch a playoff spot with a win tonight versus the Jazz and a Lakers loss to the Rockets.
– via Twitter CHold

[Xiao Yao You]

https://saltcityhoops.com/sc7-bogey-big-month-level-up/

Why have the Jazz been able to still play dominating basketball with three scorers and creators shuffling in and out of the rotation?

same as the past 6 years. Gobert. If he's on the floor you've got a good chance of winning

Another player who deserves a massive amoung of credit for stepping up in recent weeks is Georges Niang. The sharpshooting forward also sports a 100.0 DRtg for the season, just a tenth of a point off of Conley’s team-best figure. He has sustained that good defense since the injuries started, at 100.1 since April 8. Here’s a thread of nice defensive moments from last week.

too bad he's the 9th man

The Jazz are up to +9.0 in non-gargabe minutes with ANY lineup combination that doesn’t include Conley or Mitchell, which is amazing. That’s the efficiency differential of a 60+ win team.

better D and ball movement without Mitchell.

The wear and tear of an unusually compressed season got even tougher for Utah mid all the injuries, as the remaining rotation players have had to fill bigger roles. Clarkson is getting 5.3 more minutes a night, Ingles and extra 4.9, and Niang’s minutes are up a whopping 7.9. (Gobert’s, Favors and O’Neale’s minutes are roughly the same; Bogdanovic’s are too, but as documented above, he’s playing a much larger role as a facilitator, ball handler and scorer.)

more Clarkson is bad

[Xiao Yao You]

Whispers in Memphis are the Grizzlies aren’t yet sold on their 2018 lottery pick, 6-foot-11 power forward/center Jaren Jackson Jr. They’re concerned about his durability. In late April, Jackson, 21, made his return from an extended absence after he tore the meniscus in his left knee last August while playing in the NBA bubble. Jackson has started just two of the nine games he has played this season and he has taken periodic games off for “injury management.’’ Jackson is averaging 14.6 points in 23 minutes per game.
– via Marc Berman @ New York Post

Mitchell for Jackson?

[Xiao Yao You]

Ben Anderson: Mike Conley is listed as questionable tomorrow for the @Utah Jazz against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
– via Twitter BensHoops

[Xiao Yao You]

Tony East: “I think me and Rudy Gobert are the best two shot blockers in the league,” Myles Turner says. He credited Ben Simmons defense as well, but Turner said he believes he’s more impactful.
– via Twitter TEastNBA

[Xiao Yao You]

When you pull into this town, one of the first things you can see is Hamilton County Junior/Senior High School. It sits on Jerry Sloan Drive. And if you follow the drive around to the back of the school, you find the gymnasium named for the late Utah Jazz Coach. “I probably first met Coach Sloan in the fourth grade at his basketball camp here in town,” said Doug Miller, the boy’s basketball coach for Sloan’s old team, the Hamilton County High School Foxes.
– via Nate Carlisle @ KSTU Television FOX 13



Back at the high school, Jerry Sloan’s trophy case sites next to that of his son, Brian, who in 1984 was Mr. Basketball in Illinois and pushed the Foxes to a state championship. Above Jerry Sloan Court hangs the namesake’s photo and a photo of the team his daughter Holly played on. The squad won third place in the state tournament in 1987. Miller said for years Hamilton County has run many of the same plays as the Utah Jazz.
– via Nate Carlisle @ KSTU Television FOX 13

[Xiao Yao You]

https://kslsports.com/459370/jazz-re...campaign-zine/

Rudy Gobert – DPOY and All-NBA

MVP

Donovan Mitchell – All-NBA

[Xiao Yao You]

https://kslsports.com/459321/thin-ja...ace-must-wins/

Bogdanovic shot 0-5 from deep while Royce O’Neale was 0-3 for the starters. Trent Forrest, Miye Oni, and Matt Thomas shot just 2-8 off the bench as the Jazz had their eighth-worst shooting performance of the season.

Forrest

Otherwise, the Jazz will have to beat the Thunder who have lost 22 of their last 23 games, and the Kings who have won six out of their last seven.

watch out for the Kings