The Jazz have been the NBA’s most dominant team so far in 2020/21, and they added another impressive win to their résumé on Wednesday, blowing out the Lakers by a margin of 114-89 to bump their record to 26-6.
Utah has become a “hyperefficient machine that shows no signs of slowing down,” according to Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer, who explores how three-point shooting at every position except center, along with Rudy Gobert‘s ability to anchor the defense, has driven the club’s success this season. As Tjarks point out, the Jazz lead the NBA with 42.6 three-point attempts per game, and are making 39.9% of them, third-best in the league.
While the Jazz have been terrific during the first half, they’ll still need to prove they’re capable of knocking off the likes of the Lakers and Clippers in the postseason. Markieff Morris made that point following Wednesday’s game, vowing that things would be more competitive once the Lakers get healthier and the stakes are higher.
“We see the Jazz, we know they beat our a– tonight,” Morris said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “But in the playoffs it’s a different story.”
Here’s more on the Jazz:
- One longtime Western Conference scout who wasn’t sold on the Jazz entering the season has become a believer, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN details. “I thought Utah needed another star, but I’ve changed on that,” said the scout, who compared this iteration of the Jazz to the Pistons’ 2004 championship team.
- Having already been named an All-Star reserve, Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell revealed on Wednesday that he’ll also be participating in the 3-point contest. “I’ve been begging Joe (Ingles) to get in it,” Mitchell said, according to Aaron Falk of UtahJazz.com. “But you know he’s old. He’s gonna sit in his rocking chair, or something, with the kids.”
- After former Jazz swingman Elijah Millsap accused Jazz president of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey of using bigoted language during his 2015 exit interview, Lindsey – who was Utah’s GM at the time – categorically denied the allegation. Sarah Todd of The Deseret News has the details.
Utah should easily exceed the 42.5 win total O/U that was predicted for them.
Jeez you think 33 is old?…….Just wait DV….Father Time catches up with everyone
Who cares what Utah is doing now. Show me in May/ June when it counts. I hope you can beat LBJ and the Lakers but nothing matters now.
That’s false. You’re Yankees couldn’t beat the Rays last year but the season was still a success considering how much the entire offense improved. Teams like Utah need to grow first before taking the next step
Of course 33 is not old for us regular folks, but it is for most professional athletes. Steph will be 33 in a couple of weeks and Father Time has definitely caught up with him over the past few years.
Huh? Steph is playing out of his mind right now without any other superstars.
And when is your time to go robohouston?
Jazz are having a nice yr. Different in the playoffs. You can manage Spida, you won’t stop him. Other players will have to step up. Rudy is not a big offensive guy. Imo Jazz need another guaranteed scorer. They basically go 7 deep. As a team they are tough. But you can key on 2-3 guys. And make it thought for them score. Playoffs you have to beat a team 4 times 3 rds. Still think in playoffs they are missing a scorer.
I picked Utah to do this last year, and they disappointed. This year, they added Favors to a spot they needed, so essentially, they added Bogdanovic to the team from a couple of years ago, which is a really big piece for them, as that team was a potential matchup problem for certain “top” teams. Theoretically, you would expect this, but it was hard to place teams coming into the season, as there were so many variables, with the turnaround, the changes, no summer league/limited training camp, health protocols, injuries, changing rotations, etc…I had them in the 2-5 range…
I still feel like they could use another depth piece, but they are very dangerous
Utah’s offense is terrible, ranking only 3rd in the NBA.
Sarcasm… Defense 2nd, wins 1st.
Utah has a history of RS>PS, but I anticipate a better playoff performance, because they have figured out the combo-forward setup they started last year. And now they have Favors and Bojan back with Conley integrated, and no losses. That Mudiaye and Jeff Green are absent is actually a plus, though there’s not much more than eight players to get minutes. That’s enough for the playoffs but an injury would hurt.