Utah Jazz adjusts to rarity of new basketball in 101-88 scrimmage loss to Suns

There will certainly be some contingent of Utah Jazz fans out there disproportionately concerned about the team’s 101-88 loss to the Phoenix Suns in a game played on the HP Fieldhouse in Orlando, Florida on Thursday night.

Perhaps most will look at the Ed Davis-Georges Niang-Miye Oni-Rayjon Tucker-Emmanuel Mudiay lineup that graced the floor early in the fourth quarter with the game still balanced and will acknowledge that the coaching staff were not sweating the end result, though .

Jazz coach Quin Snyder said before the contest that he hoped it would be “seeing a couple of combinations, things that we necessarily want to accomplish with those groups and seeing some different things we’ve been thinking about.”

That was accomplished.

The second quarter saw them go relatively small, with Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles surrounding center Rudy Gobert. The third quarter, meanwhile, saw them go in the opposite direction, with Tony Bradley paired up alongside Gobert on a large frontcourt.

“When Tony came in, he did a great job running the floor, it reminded me a bit of playing with [Derrick Favors] my first two years, “Mitchell said.

Of course, if there ever was a time to throw away weird stuff and see what happens, this was the time. After all, it was a game played without fans, with some unique camera angles, with separate bench seats for social distancing, and coaches dressed not in suits but with matching polo shirts.

While Conley noted that “it was weird running out of the tunnel and there was no one there to give us five,” Gobert said personally, he felt he was acclimatizing to the singularity fairly quickly.

“If there is one thing I like about not having fans, it is that I can hear my teammates clearly and they can hear me,” he explained. “… The bench is the only thing we are not used to: sitting like that, having to get away from other boys. The sound system is very good, the big screens fill the space. … At the same time, once I’m on the court, I focus on what’s happening on the floor and focus on the other things. “

As for things on the court, almost everyone except Mitchell looked a little rusty and took a while to get used to playing again. The All-Star guard accumulated 17 points in the game with 5 of 8 shots, along with four assists.

Meanwhile, there was one thing that did not change: everyone’s claim that defense can improve a lot.

“We give up too much on painting, especially early. We have to do a better job dictating the painting, ”said Snyder. “… Our boys played a little bit in the game, which we cannot do. We have to come out strong and play aggressively.”