Bogdanovi scored 18 points, Joubert added 11 points and 20 boards for Utah.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz Center Rudi Joubert (27) Damian Jones challenges the Phoenix Suns Center (30) and Phoenix Suns goalkeeper Etoan Moore (55) as the Jazz Crack opens the 2020-21 season with their second match against the Phoenix Suns at 14 December 2020.
When asked before the Monday night game how he intends to handle the split of minutes between veterans looking to walk the right path and youngsters looking to emerge, with competition only in the middle of three matches before the start of the season, Utah Jazz coach Quinn Snyder replied that the issue would not be. Be so. It would be the clean split that was an editorial on Saturday almost.
“It really has to do with our veteran guys,” said Snyder. “We’d like to see players have a chance to play together. … The regular season is just around the corner, so you want to make sure the players are doing well for that.”
Good call. After struggling during most of the first half against Phoenix on Monday, the regular jazz players eventually settled matters, breaking the match wide open in the third quarter as Utah scored a 111-92 win at the Vivent Arena.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz keeper Jordan Clarkson (00) hits the net while Phoenix Suns goalkeeper Etoan Moore (55) watches as the Jazz Crack opens the 2020-21 season with their second match against the Phoenix Suns December 14, 2020.
After burying Phoenix on Saturday under a barrage of opening three-pointers, the jazz team found it more difficult two days later in the rematch.
With Chris Paul leading a spirited defensive effort by the Suns, Utah had been unmistakable from the start. Issues of spacing and timing abounded, with the jazz team making 13 turns before halftime – including five by Joe Inglis and three by Donovan Mitchell, the team’s main players. Meanwhile, neither Mitchell nor Boyan Bogdanovic were able to get their shots, the former often sticking around with a strong middle-class look, the latter repeatedly swinging the edge.
Even when things went well – like when Bogdanovich exhausted a 3-pass from Englishmen in the shot-clock horn – that didn’t necessarily mean everything was fine, as possession had previously shown Mitchell’s lead to kick even further – Engels is open Wide behind the arc, only for the latter to miss the look that couldn’t get any better and swings into a well-covered bogie as the watch goes by.
And so it was that Snyder left the regulars before the end of the first half to try to re-direct them again after they had been fully worked on by the second unit in the Phoenix.
They finally find out.
Jazz 111, Sun 92
• Utah closes the first half with a score of 8-0 and opens the second period with a lightning 13-0 move to break the match.
• Bojan Bogdanovic got off to another slow start in shooting to score the team’s highest level of 18 points.
• Rudi Joubert added 11 points (7 to 10 on the streak) and 20 rebounds, while the jazz defense kept Phoenix by 42.0% in match payouts.
Utah ended the first half 8-0 – including Mike Conley 3 and two free throws by Connelly and Bogdanovi 3 – to lead 49-48.
After the break, this duo came back from where they left off, opening the third quarter with Connelly striking a 3, leading Bogdanovi to throw the ball, and then Boogie digging 3 – forcing Phoenix coach Monty Williams to call a time-out with Utah all of a sudden until nine.
This 16-0 round that extended at the end of the first half became 21-0, then 32-6.
“We came to this match with a defensive mindset. Only the men were trapped on the defensive side;“ Things weren’t going smoothly at the offensive end. ”In the third quarter, we started to gain some freedom in some early actions and in the transition … So we didn’t have to work very hard to score the ball. “
In fact, by the time the third quarter ended, jazz had accumulated 38 points in this period and unlocked the 17-point advantage.
Snyder then said, “We played a good defense in the first half, but the transformations didn’t help us.” “Once we found out and kept guarding, we were a lot better.”
Bogdanovi led the scoring effort, scoring 18 points (4 on 9 from the field and 7 against 7 on the tape), to line up with five boards. Conley added 16 points, while Mitchell contributed 15. Rudi Joubert scored 11 points while dominating the Cup with 20 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Utah’s defense proved claustrophobic for the second match in a row – albeit limited to Paul remaining only 17 minutes, while Jay Crowder, Cameron Johnson, Dario Saric and Cam Payne all sat completely. The Suns fired only 42.0% from the field and 28.6% from the 3-point streak.
“We’re going to have nights like this where we don’t come out with offensive power, and the biggest thing is we have to make sure that defense is the thing that holds us up, whether we’re having a good night or bad,” Mitchell said. Kind of matches to see where our defense is. “
Thus, the jazz team sent these aforementioned youngsters at the start of Season 4 – Mei Oni, Elijah Hughes, Joan Morgan, Nigel Williams Joss – to play against junior Suns for a few minutes. They kept their own goals, beating Phoenix by alternating 14-9 before Williams emptied his seat.
The only player in the junior race came with 2:14 to play, when junior center Odoka Azubuicki met Abdul Nader at the edge and hit him. With the latter falling hard and hitting his head on the field, the referee’s review culminated in Azubuike’s rating for a blatant Tier 2 foul and was sent off from the match.
Jazz will conclude the pre-season roster on Thursday night in Los Angeles, with clippers at Staples Center.
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