On Wednesday night, Collin Sexton was so close to New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson that he must have smelled his breath.
Brunson, one of the best point guards in the NBA, tried to accelerate left, but Sexton cleverly moved his feet with him. Brunson tried to reverse course, and there was Sexton clapping his hands furiously. The Delta Center crowd, sensing a moment, got into it. Brunson tried to muscle past. Sexton pushed the ball away. Finally the whistle blew. There was an eight-second count and a Knicks turnover. Sexton bent over his Jazz teammates on the bench. Jazz head coach Will Hardy flexed with him.
It’s a play that is largely unsustainable at the NBA level. After all, you’re not going to squeeze star-level point guards into eight-second violations often. But in a season that has been mostly disappointing for the Jazz, a season where there have been games without life and energy on the court, Hardy will surely take the time to applaud his players when they make great plays. And Sexton made a great play, and an emblematic one at that, on Wednesday night.
“That was Collin taking his job very literally,” Hardy said of a play where Sexton boxed Brunson out of bounds. “It was Collin going above and beyond his job responsibilities.”
After a win over the Knicks on Wednesday night, and a win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night, Hardy can look his team in the eye and say this is what it needs to look like. The yelling, the chasing, the lineup shuffling, the tantrums, it’s all because of how the Jazz played on back-to-back nights that produced arguably the two most exciting wins of the season.
The ball moved for a team that did not move the ball much at this point of the season. The Jazz defended at a level they certainly haven’t this season. There were victories. There have even been exciting wins for Utah this year. But there have been no consecutive performances like this one from the Jazz this season. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Jazz controlled nearly eight quarters of basketball.
It’s too early to tell if the past two games are a positive blip for the Jazz, or if this is truly the start of Utah turning a corner on the season. The NBA is a fickle league. Winning streaks can quickly turn into losing streaks, and vice versa. But the Jazz coach always likes to talk about filming things, whether good or bad. In the past few weeks, Hardy has had a lot of bad things to talk about. Now, if nothing else, he can present his team with the blueprint of what the Jazz were supposed to be when they were put together during the offseason.
“We know we have to compete every night,” Jazz point guard Kris Dunn said. “I know it’s a long season, but we have to compete and we have to bring it every night. It’s about communication. I think once we get on the same page, things will look a lot different.”
What was different about the last two games?
The ball movement and extra pass with the ball bursting around the perimeter, jumped off the screen. Against the Knicks, the Jazz had 31 assists to 15 turnovers. In Thursday’s win over Portland, the Jazz dished out 27 assists and turned the ball over 11 times. Hardy would still like to see a turnover number lower than 15. But the 31 assists means it’s a two to one assist to turnover ratio, and any coach will be happy with that. And against Portland, that number almost jumped to a three-to-one ratio, which is even better.
Sexton has averaged 24 points per game over his last three games. He gets into the lane and makes plays at will. He hits floaters and makes good decisions with the ball. He bends defenses off the dribble and creates gravity when he gets into the paint. Starting the last two games as Jordan Clarkson misses time with a hamstring strain has given Sexton a longer leash that he hasn’t had this season. And he takes full advantage. He looked like a different basketball player this week, and not only was it a dynamic offense, but it was also an efficient and winning offense.
Defensively, the Jazz used a zone to keep the Knicks and Blazers out of the paint. Walker Kessler had two of his best games of the season protecting the rim. With 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks, he was close to a triple-double in Portland. He and rookie Taylor Hendricks presented a long and athletic frontcourt that discouraged opponents in the lane, blocking shots and causing turnovers.
“Walker and Taylor have length and athleticism that others on the team don’t have,” Hardy said. “It’s something we’ve tried to take advantage of.”
Hendricks was a revelation last week. He still finds solace in the offense. He is raw in polish on both ends of the floor. But his defensive skills and instincts are so vast that even in this raw state he was significantly effective for the Jazz. He is playing because John Collins missed time and Lauri Markkanen missed time. But, he was so effective in his minutes off the bench that it would be hard for Jazz fans to see him taken out of the rotation once the team returns to full strength.
Defensively, Hendricks is good enough to play right away, and he’s unique in skills compared to anyone on the roster. Offensively, he already shoots the ball well enough to stay on the floor, even if he is raw in other aspects of the game. His emergence has been fascinating and his improvement even over this past week has been remarkable to watch.
What the Jazz do know is that the adversity will continue. But, did they really find anything this week? Or is this just good playing on consecutive nights. What cannot be disputed is the fact that Utah did not let go of the rope. This is a team that lost to the Dallas Mavericks last week by 50 points. It is a team that trailed the Oklahoma City Thunder by almost 40.
But this Jazz team kept fighting. And they have some positive results to show for it, however fleeting or lasting it may be.
“We all know the season didn’t go the way we wanted,” Utah forward Kelly Olynyk said. “But we have to keep building. We must learn from the past and grow from it. We can’t let what happened in the past dictate the future.”
(Taylor Hendricks Photo: Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
