The Utah Jazz Are Playing Basketball Chess

The Utah Jazz Are Playing Basketball Chess

After starting the season 10 and 18 in what looked to be another year spent tanking the Utah Jazz have won 12 of their last 14 games including some really big wins against competitive teams during that time they’ve been pretty strong defensively overwhelming opponents with the size and length that

Comes with running two or even three bigs on the floor at once but the true Catalyst behind their success has been some spectacular off defense since December 21st 14 games ago they’ve scored an impressive 124 points every 100 possessions good for third in the league over that stretch now in the

Modern NBA offensive production like that often comes with either an elite playmaker dominating the ball and running the show or a big time scorer who applies constant pressure until the defense completely collapses just think of some of this year’s top offensive teams the Pacers have halberton who perfectly fits example number one the

Celtics bucks Thunder and 76ers all have a top tier scorer surrounded by a cast of complimentary pieces and the Clippers have a little bit of both but you look at the Jazz they don’t have a single player who lands in the top 20 in points

Per game or a player Landing in the top 30 in assists per game yet a combination of depth perfect fit and some masterful x’s and o’s has allowed them to score with the best of the best over the last month let’s focus on that last point if

You turn on a jazz game there’s always so much offensive action going on this play starts with Sexton running off a pin down from marinan while simultaneously on the weak side you’ve got o Lin setting a back screen for Keon George sexon starts to drive drawing the attention of cheddy Osman meaning that

There’s nobody in position to pick up George on a cut to the basket or how about this one where marinan appears to be curling off of two screens towards the top of the key only to cut through and clear that side of the floor so that

Clarkson can Flash out and cut into a flare screen from Kessler except hang on that’s actually a decoy to distract the defense because on the other side Lowry’s now running off of a pin down into open space on the perimeter for three points those Corner down screens

For marinin are a staple in their offense the shooting is huge but that isn’t the only thing the defense has to worry about if he’s given any sort of space to attack the middle he’ll use his momentum to put it down on a drive where he’s a big time interior finisher and to

Take away that space you’d think that a switch can do the job but the problem then becomes Lowry re isolating against a mismatch in the middle of the floor which is usually going to lead to some pretty good offense there really isn’t a right answer for how to defend these

Actions and what ends up happening a lot of the time is a miscommunication like this where his original Defender wants to chase him while the second Defender wants to switch that gravitational pull leaves the screener wide open on a slip and the result isn’t easy to it’s the

Same thing when he’s going towards the basket this time as they set up the action Jeremy sohan’s going to front the screen so low counters with a back door cut which Vel of course has to react to once again two on low leads to a highquality opportunity for a teammate

Very rarely will you see the defense do everything right OG jumps in front of the screen shudder sitting back to not give up a cut and when that happens the Jazz react by immediately setting up a second Action Now Lowry’s going to set a down screen for Chris dun to curl

Towards the ball and with OG top locking that gives the big man an opportunity to slip down the lane for an open dunk the takeaway here is that these Corner screening actions create so many different options they especially like running these thre man actions it looks

Like Lowry’s going to curl off a screen from Kessler himself but he in Z cuts off a back screen from Simone fonio who then immediately runs off the Kesler screen and that’s another guy who can knock down jumpers on the move with three moving parts to cover there are so

Many more opportunities for the defense to miscommunicate or just make simple mistakes here’s another that starts with what looks to be Clarkson running off a couple screens towards the top but he stops short and runs through on the last play we looked at that queued the second

Guy this time Chris Dunn to then run off a pin down but now they’re going to flip it Dunn setting a back screen for John Collins with nobody back to protect the rim from a lob another thing you’ll see them do is set up those same corner pin

Downs but instead using Lowry as the screener with one of their guards moving towards the ball notice how while that’s happening they’re also running some decoy screening action on the week side so that they can occupy the help and clear the lane for sexon here’s another example where Lowry’s the one screening

And it’s Jordan Clarkson who’s running the route because Clarkson gets chased over the top a second Defender is forced to step in front of him to protect the paint leaving Lowry open on a pop as he sets and fires three of his own and I think these plays really speak to how

Many different ways Lowry can be utilized as an off ball weapon he can be the ball screener where his outside shooting makes him a huge threat to pick and pop and those pick and Pops create a ton of space notice how when Clarkson turns the corner soan would typically be

The guy picking up the ball but he’s so worried about Low’s shooting that he follows him to the top of the key leaving the lane wide open for a drive and dunk here it is again you’ve got seon coming off the screen as Lowry pops

And all he has to do is hesitate for a second while looking towards the top to send Jimmy Butler on a close out once again clearing the lane for an easy bucket these ball screens can also serve as a decoy to set up something else it looks like Lowry’s getting into the

Two-man game with dun only to slip right past and instead come off a flare screen on the opposite Wing which gets him enough space to comfortably catch and shoot this one’s real similar it starts with the a fake ball screen from Lowry then another from Collins who keeps

Moving to set a cross screen for low which again leaves him with enough room to pour in three points room for error when defending Lowry away from the ball isn’t just minimal it’s non-existent due to the unique combination of size and shooting ability right now he leads the

Entire NBA in three-point attempts off the catch while capitalizing on more than 40% of them that’s ridiculous and he’s a legit SF footer while doing it so he’s shooting over anyone it’s so hard to bother his shot that sometimes it’ll demand a foul and even that doesn’t

Always get the job done it takes near Perfect Defense to run him off the line but like I said earlier that just sets up another opportunity the lane is wide open so Lowry just sets up in the post and gets to a jump hook hang on let’s

Run that back because I want to focus on why the lane was so wide open for that postup the key here is kol linic over the last two seasons he’s hit more than 40% of his threes so yakob purle is forced to step out and respect him because purle is their primary rim

Protector all of a sudden that paint becomes a lot more vulnerable and this isn’t some isolated incident the way ol linic opens up their offense can’t possibly be overstated in the same way you can open up this new year by cashing in on some bets I’ve been told a number

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Let’s take a look at Kelly o Linux impact on the Jazz offense when he’s on the floor he’s typically the one initiating they’ll get the ball to him in the middle before getting into their action and he makes the right decision seemingly every single time with that he

Also has some skill as a scorer so on a play like this where he’s the one coming off a ball screen and the Piston switch he’s able to attack the mismatch on a drive getting all the way to the paint and drawing a couple free throws by far

His most valuable asset though is the passing ability a lot of the set plays and screening actions I talked about start with the ball in his hands like this one where he holds it on the wing as Keon George comes off a flare screen and he hits him perfectly in stride in

The pocket for a real easy catch and sh 2 three this time it’s one of those corner pin downs and notice how Hardaway is calling for a switch while Lucas’s attached to Clarkson that gives fonio an opportunity to slip and oen puts it right on the money here’s another that

Starts with what looked to be the same action except bogdanovich is top locking with nobody protecting the basine so as soon as Kelly gets the ball up top fono is going to cut back door and just look look at the placement that’s a ridiculous pass because he’s so accurate

He’ll exploit even the most minuscule soft spots in the defense Lowry’s going to slip the screen but with sohan’s body in the way he’s only able to get an arm down the lane that’s all Kelly needs to see though again making a pinpoint pass that leads to a layup in the event that

The cut actually does get taken away Kyrie does a great job of defending this one Kelly’s not going to force the issue or try to make a pass that isn’t there instead he starts moving towards the corner to set up a dribble handoff but remember I mentioned he is capable of

Scoring himself so when he sees a lane to attack he rejects the action and takes it to the rack what ends up happening is you get this sort of yic style offense the movement cutting and screening action revolves around him in the middle of the floor while he’s

Simultaneously a threat to get into some Twan game I think he’s got especially good chemistry with Colin sexon and that’s because seon’s constantly hunting for opportunities to cut and who better than Kelly to hit him in stride this time you’re going to see them set up with a more traditional ball screen look

But seon’s explosive enough to reject the screen and apply pressure to the paint which pulls the attention of Kelly’s man leaving him open on the pop with more than enough time to comfortably catch and shoot plays like that really highlight seon’s value to this offense he’s the best on the team

At getting to the rim and really does a lot of things you find in highlevel slashers a lot of players would choose to pick up their dribble right here the cells on his right hip wemi shutting off the middle and he can either kick it to

Oin on the wing or pull up for a midi but here’s what I’m talking about he quickly goes behind his back to redirect his Lane and all of a sudden he’s earned himself a trip to the line of course it’s never a bad thing to move the ball

And get everyone involved but there are possessions where the offense falls through and you just need those guys who can break free and create something out of nothing that’s what Sexton’s driving game gives them his skill set also allows the team to run more ball screen action he’s not necessarily much of a

Pull-up shooter but he’s really good at attacking space so if given room he will turn the corner and find a lane to the basket that ability to get to and convert at the rim of course puts the defense into rotation and he’s a good enough passer to capitalize by creating

More open threes so he’s providing an on ball presence that they really don’t have much of you’ll find a lot of these same qualities in Jordan Clarkson he’s another guy who can consistently get into the defense and create his own shot although he’s more inclined to use the

Mid-range instead of going all the way still that inside the arc shot creation applies pressure which then frees up teammates and he’s come a long way as a passer currently averaging a career high of more than five assists a game I feel like everyone knows he’s a bucket but I

Actually don’t think he gets enough credit for just how good he is in isolation he’s currently scoring 1.11 points per ISO which is a pretty incredible mark and it allows him to serve as a release valve for when their actions don’t create any advantage to attack the Spurs switched this flare

Without a problem so Clarkson uses that space to take his man one-on-one he beats him off the dribble drawing help down low and dumps it off to Kessler for a dunk how important these on ball creators can be to the offense really shows up in the team’s numbers seon

Played about 750 minutes without Clarkson on the floor and they’ve had a 118 offensive rating solid and on the flip side Clarkson’s played about 725 minutes without seon and they’ve marked a 115.5 again solid but in about 300 minutes with neither on the court the offense has collapsed falling all the

Way to 108 well below the League’s average that’s because there’s the only two who can consistently get into the defense and force rotations and without that sort of shot creation it’s really difficult to gain advantages I will say Keon George is getting closer and closer to being another one of those guys for

Them and he’s just a rookie he hasn’t yet figured out the slashing much but the wrinkle that he offers is that he’s the team’s best offto dribble three-point shooter adding another layer to their attack it’s a small sample being his first year and all but he’s hit 40% of his pull-up threes that’s

Really impressive and it means that he’s another guy who can play that two-man game where if a big plays him in drop coverage he’s stepping into some efficient offense from behind the ark that of course means he’s able to create some advantages like here the Pistons switch the screen which leaves Kelly oin

With a guard in the post George doesn’t have an angle to enter the ball so o comes over to make the pass for him and just like that you’ve got a layup that’s not to say George isn’t a very skilled passer though he’s another guy who can initiate Utah’s constant screening

Action like this back screen for o to cut into open space and receive a perfectly placed lob in addition to those guys they also have Chris Dunn who’s a very limited scorer but clearly the best passer of their guards so when Kelly’s not on the floor he’s typically

The one setting the table and he’s capable of making those exact same reads although he won’t break down Defenders one-on-one like Sexton or Clarkson with the space that Utah Shooters create via movement he can get into the defense and make plays like this lob to Kessler there’s actually something more

Important I want you to focus on from this possession though does anything look a little bit different than a typical offense what I’m talking about is Kessler’s positioning he starts deep in the corner instead of in the dunker spot and that’s not because he’s a shooter the idea is to make precious

Atua’s rotation to the rim just a little bit longer because he can’t touch the paint without getting a defensive 3 second call then Kessler is going to time up his dive to the basket so that he can still space the floor vertically this is another master class in X’s and

O’s whenever Kessler’s on the floor they find a way to space him by throwing him in that weak side corner now when Clarkson and Lowry run a pick and pop that gives Clarkson a lane to the paint Kessler’s just filling out space along the Baseline for some easy offense

Here’s another one that starts with him in that weak side corner this time it’s a seon drive that draws the rim protection and he actually attempts the shot but Cade Cunningham completely missed his box out so the Big Fellas got a free two points on the follow that’s

The luxury of always having two bigs on the floor there’s always someone to crash and that creates all sorts of problems over those last 14 games they’ve been sixed in the NBA at over 16 Second Chance points every 75 possessions yet another layer to an already versatile offense I started my

Breakdown talking about how they’re unique in that they don’t have just one driving force or traditional engine leading the charge and I wanted to close by throwing some numbers at you to really highlight that point again looking at the last 14 games they don’t have a single player touching the ball

More than 60 times a game there are players in the league averaging 90 even 100 touches some teams with two guys over 75 but the Jazz just have six guys who all land at about 50 that’s what sharing the ball looks like some of that also has to do with their minutes

Lowry’s averaging 312 Clarkson about 29 and no other player is over 26 they’ve essentially got a roster of guys playing sixthman minutes nine guys over 20 and 10 over 18 talk about depth according to cleaning the glass they’ve got six different lines lineups that have played at least 100 possessions and

Of those six two really stand out in terms of success their best lineup has been the five of Keon George Clarkson o oen and Kesler outscoring opponents by nearly 12 points per 100 their second best lineup has been Chris Dunn seon Simone Lowry and John Collins with a net

Rating of about 5 a half how many teams in the NBA can put out two completely different lineups and get great results I think that’s a perfect place to bring this video home because it highlights why the Jazz have been so successful it isn’t just a oneman show sure Lowry’s an

All-Star maybe even all-nba caliber guy but most of his time is spent away from the ball it takes multiple ball handlers and good decision makers multiple floor spacers size athleticism and of course a perfect system that maximizes all of its parts if all of those boxes are checked

You’re left with the 2024 Utah Jazz who have won 12 of their last 14 and aren’t showing any signs of slowing down if you enjoyed this breakdown make sure to drop a like subscribe and turn my post notifications on to be first on more content if you’re interested in my more

Depth research make sure to check out my website and social media profiles you can find those links in the description feel free to let me know down in the comments what you think of the Jazz as always I hope you all have a great day and I’ll catch you guys in the next One

The Utah Jazz have won 12 of their last 14 games behind some spectacular offense, led by the X’s and O’s of coach Will Hardy.

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