Portland Trail Blazers Preview: Utah Jazz 11/4

The Blazers win again! Portland found their way back into the win column after defeating their first divisional foe, the Minnesota Timberwolves, on Monday night 106-101.

Now the Blazers play another divisional opponent once again in their home opener. This time it is against the Utah Jazz, one of the few teams in the NBA that are younger than the Trail Blazers. The Jazz, however, are not looked at as one of the bottom feeder’s of the NBA but one of the teams that are right on the cusp of the NBA playoffs.

For every NBA team to be a Finals candidate, they have to have that one guy who is a superstar. The Jazz has theirs in 5^th year man Gordon Hayward, the 6’8” 226 pound small forward from Butler. Hayward has made a steady rise of stardom in the four years he’s been in the NBA with his points per game slightly increasing each year.

Oct 22, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward (20) dribbles the ball during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz won 98-78. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

However, power forward Derrick Favors continues to be this team’s best player during the early going of the season. Leading the team in PPG, SPG and in player efficiency rating, Favors start has been more than favorable.

The Jazz have to depend on these two players to possess the ball way more than should because of a poor offensive point guard in Raul Neto. Neto is okay at handling the ball and getting the offense set up, but as I go into more depth into the Jazz offense, you’ll see that there really isn’t anything to set up.

This is why Utah goes to the bench early with Trey Burke. Burke has had his rough patches in the NBA but this may be the season he finally takes over the starting point guard position for the Jazz with Dante Exum being out and Neto not looking to hot. Burke is overall a better offensive scorer than Neto is but does get trigger happy and takes some bad shots.

The Jazz offense is really boring to watch. There is really nothing going on except for a screen here and an iso over there. What Utah does that is exciting is their ability to attack the basket and when the window closes hit a man in the corn for an easy drive or a wide open 3.

In the first play, Favors acts as the screener for the point guard, Neto. Neto uses the screen and attacks the basket but shortly finds out that there is no room for him to go. He uses his retreat dribble to back away from the double team and throws a cross court pass to Joe Ingles. Ingles calls for a screen at first but then Favors backs away. Ingles goes at the top of the key as if it is an iso but then waits for the screen of Favors. After attacking the defender he forces help from Alec Burk’s defender. He makes the smart pass to Burks and he makes a quick move baseline for the bucket.

In this next play, the ball is brought up the court too quick and nothing really gets set and there is no screen to be made in the corner. The ball goes back to the top of the key for point guard Trey Burk and he gets the screen from the top of the arc from Favors. Favor does a good job rolling and is wide open. He gets doubled by center Rudy Gobert’s man and he makes a pass that is too hot to handle for Gobert. Luckily for the Jazz, Burks is at the right place at the right time and has a little bit more luck than skill on the finish.

Like I say in every article, there is a counter to every play even the simple pick and roll. Remember you do not always have to use the screen. You can use a quick jab step to sell the defender your’e going one way but you actually go the other. In this bit, the Pacers know that the Jazz are doing another pick and roll iso set. The thing that they didn’t account for was that Rodney Hood did not need to use the screen. Hood did not even need to use a jab step to gain an extra step on the defender, he used his quickness and agility to get pass the defender and then finish the play.

One team cannot just produce on offense with a pick and roll offense with some isos in it as Blazers fans are finding out. The offense needs some motion with movement that always keeps the defense guessing and tired at the same time, a lethal combo. This segment right here may be the Jazz’s attribute to that. After the ball is brought up the court and Burke passes the ball to Burks, he goes down to the block and awaits a down screen from Trevor Booker.He receives a pass from Burkes and then hits Booker on the left side elbow where the screen was set. After the ball is passed, Burke goes to the strong side corner, while Burks and Booker are setting a down screen for Ingles. Ingles comes off the screen in a sprint and corrals the pass from Booker who then gets a way with a moving screen. Ingles takes advantage of the illegal movement and hits a tough contested jumper.

This is essentially what Hayward can do if he is in, although he is much more of a threat driving towards the rim and then finding an open man in one of the corners as he does in the final video.

This final play Hayward comes straight off a dribble handoff into a screen and roll. The drive that Hayward takes creates a collapse in the center of the key and an open man in the short corner. After Hood gets the ball from the short corner, he takes it out around the three point line and decides to do a two man game with Gobert. He uses Gobert as a fake screen and attacks baseline and hits the floater.

I don’t like how the Blazers match up on defense against this long, lanky team especially in the front court. Their bigs are better both offensively and defensively than ours and it may exploit us. Favors does most of the scoring and I would be worried if Coach Stotts assigned Meyers Leonard to guard him. I like Leonard guarding Gobert better because of the lack of the threat he is on offense and Leonard’s suspect play on defense.  Mason Plumee on Favors is the lesser of the two evils when it comes to choosing your poison. I like the match up between Al-Farouq Aminu and Hayward but am weary when it comes to CJ McCollum against Hood. Hood has a 3 inch height advantage over McCollum and outweighs him by 15 pounds. This may be the key matchup to watch for the Blazers and it may get interesting if Gerald Henderson can get some playing time in this game.

As much as I want to say the Blazers can win this game I don’t see it happening. We did beat the Jazz both times we played them in the preseason, one time after making a huge comeback in the second half. Nothing really matters in preseason and the Jazz may have been playing their second stingers just to see how they would play in pressured situations. If the Blazers were to pull this game out it would be a huge statement in the Northwest Division.