Stretching The Field: Jazz In Tune To Make Push
While most sports enthusiasts are scrambling to fill out the perfect NCAA Tournament bracket, the Utah Jazz are quietly moving up the ranks at the professional level.
Most office pools have undefeated Kentucky as the favorite to be the last team dancing in early April, when the NBA’s playoff picture will be more lucid.
Whether the Jazz will be in postseason contention by then remains a mystery, but right now they’re trying to punch a ticket to the round of 16. The Jazz have missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons and three times over the previous four.
The Salt Lake City faithful deserve better.
They were used to watching consistent postseason basketball under Frank Layden and the great Jerry Sloan, and are hoping newcomer Quin Snyder will have similar success.
Unlike Bob Dylan’s perception upon the arrival of Quinn the Eskimo, Jazz fans were not jumping for joy when Snyder appeared and pigeons were not running to him. Jazz fans, however, probably opted to doze when learning that Snyder would become the eighth head coach in Utah Jazz history and the fifth since the franchise relocated from New Orleans.
With his scrubbed good looks and wavy locks, Snyder started his first NBA head coaching gig with a 6-19 record following a 119-111 loss at New Orleans on Dec. 16. The Jazz would win four of their next five games until falling down another rabbit hole, dropping 13 of the next 20 games.
Then something clicked.
Now the buzzword around Salt Lake City is playoffs with six straight wins and 13 in the last 16 tries, including Monday’s 94-66 rout of the Charlotte Hornets at EnergySolutions Arena. Rookie Rodney Hood recorded a career-high 24 points and appears 100 percent from an early foot injury.
“It’s been amazing just being healthy, finally getting my foot right,” said Hood of his recent play. “Just knocking down shots and shooting with confidence has been the biggest thing.”
Snyder will concur.
“He’s confident. He’s getting some of that from the group,” Snyder said. “He’s working so hard. If he’s got a good shot, we want him taking it.”
Snyder mentioned the hard work Hood has put forth in returning from injury and is especially impressed with his intensity, a trait that was picked up playing under the great Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. Snyder also said Hood’s length on defense has impacted his recent boost of certainty.
Hood is just one mind Snyder is trying to mold with the Jazz. Take a gander at Snyder’s resume and you will see the basketball wizards he has worked under, including Larry Brown, Coach K and Doug Collins. He was the head coach of the Austin Toros, the D-League affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs. Guess who runs the five-time NBA champion Spurs? Yep, Gregg Popovich.
According to Snyder, Krzyzewski still monitors Hood from afar.
“He asked about Rodney. He’s obviously following Rodney,” Snyder said of a recent conversation he had with the Blue Devils coach. “You gotta guy who’s just playing … playing the right way. Good things happen.”
So it’s clear Snyder has a melting pot of sorts to work with when it comes to teaching the game of basketball. The Jazz have picked up on it the past few weeks as evidenced by the best run of the season.
The Jazz, who are an NBA-best 11-2 since the All-Star break and 6 1/2 games out of a playoff spot, have won five in a row in Salt Lake City, where they own a 17-16 record this season. The Jazz had a 30-16 lead after the first quarter versus Charlotte and a season-high 61 points in the first half.
“When the ball’s passed accurately and on time … there are better shots,” Snyder said after the beatdown of the Hornets. “We got it going tonight. We got it going early. Sometimes that can be infectious.”
Utah set a franchise record in 3-pointers made in a quarter (eight), a half (12) and a game (15-of-24). Hood made all five of his shots from downtown.
The pick-and-roll Jazz are holding opponents to just 82.8 points per game since the break and have outrebounded every opponent in the last 13 games. They’re better sharing the basketball, too, and it shows with the recent success.
The nucleus of the Jazz boils down to two players: Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors. Hayward leads the team in scoring average with 19.6 points and Favors is second in both scoring (16.3) and rebounding (8.2). Trey Burke, Rudy Gobert and now Hood have given Utah a lineup worthy of cracking the last two spots in the Western Conference playoff race.
Who knows how far this team could go had Alec Burks (shoulder) been able to stay healthy and be a part of what could be something special? But injuries happen and it’s the best teams that persevere through hard times.
Even if the Jazz miss out on a playoff berth in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, the future looks promising.
Sitting almost seven games behind the postseason cutoff line may seem overwhelming. If the Jazz remain consistent and get some help around the league to halt their playoff drought, fans will be jumping for joy.
