Post Game Thoughts!
KD is simply unreal guys, we threw everything at him. I definitely need a break from watching him cook us alive. But also encouraging it took that performance to barely beat us.
I really liked both of these games though as moral victories for this very young Jazz team! Margins are razor thin in this league and we simply didn’t execute down the stretch. I think some of the defensive schemes (with Kessler out) started kicking in this game! And our bench group didn’t completely ruin our chances in the 3rd-4th stretch like last game.
Lauri Markkanen is so unbelievably good guys, I cannot believe we got him from that Donovan Mitchell trade. His defense was phenomenal tonight too. I will keep harping on it but we absolutely have to get him the ball more. And I hope the Jazz can find a star to trade for this season or at least a better bench point guard to hopefully take some of the pressure off him and give him some longer rests.
JC has got to stop playing hero ball in the late game that much and not pass. He got bailed out by Keyonte and Lauri a couple of times, but took some really bad shots late.
Keyonte had some really important minutes tonight! He made a couple of mistakes late and a couple of great plays too! His defense has honestly been solid so far. And his court vision and passing is incredible. It’s awesome he is willing to attack late like that. He absolutely got hacked all game and should’ve gotten some calls that rookies don’t get. I hope Hardy ramps up his minutes to 30+ a game soon.
THT & Sexton had some high highs and some low lows. Loved Sexton’s effort in the 2nd half mostly. And THT made some great drives to the rim, but his 3 point shooting & shot selection is exhausting to watch. And I can’t believe I watched Sexton size up KD on iso lmao.
Agbaji has played his ass off defensively these last 2 games. Hell of an effort on Booker & Durant. Just s perfect 3 & d player.
I definitely want to see the Jazz’s defense start showing improvement these next couple of weeks. We’ve had a brutal schedule and I honestly think this team could get back .500 25 games into the year. Really want Kessler to come back and see him with Keyonte.
And they play the Lakers on my birthday of course. Hope they can take some positive monumentum into this next week and start getting some dubs!
How committed to Markkanen are the jazz as a #1 option this year? Any chance they bring in someone else who is “the guy?”