Preseason Opener: Utah Jazz vs Portland Trail Blazers Recap

Oct 7, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz guard

(3) and Portland Trail Blazers guard

(2) fight for a lose ball during the third quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Utah Jazz won the game 92-73. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

We have waited for months for some real basketball, and tonight’s matchup did not disappoint!  The Jazz opened the preseason against Portland today at Energy Solutions Arena. Portland is always a fun team to see play with the returns of Utah favorites Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, and Diante Garrett.

Not only do we see familiar faces when Portland comes in town, but we get to see awesome match-ups.  Gordon Hayward vs Nicolas Batum.  Derrick Favors vs LaMarcus Aldridge.  Trey Burke vs Damian Lillard.  The list goes on and on.

The Jazz opened the year with a 92 – 73 win, that many may have not expected.  Let’s take a look at some of the key take aways from tonights game.

• Derrick Favors apparently saw where he came in on ESPN’s #NBArank (90th overall) and set out to prove that he is better than that.  Favors looked like the best player on the court for most the game. Statistics backed this up, as he has a game high +24 +/-.  In 24 minutes he finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  The team got him the ball while he crashed to the basket, and he looked good!

• Dante Exum made his rookie debut, and it went exactly as some may have expected.  Exum went 1-5 from the field for 4 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.  The quickness he was drafted for was on display throughout the night.  With his quick first step, Dante drew a couple bump fouls from defenders trying to jump back in front of him.  I suspect we will see him get these foul calls a lot this year.  While there were flashes of brilliance, the rawness of Exum was apparent.  He seemed to be hesitant to shoot open shots, drive to the basket, and do much besides pass.  He will learn, and I think he will be great, but it will take time.

• Alec Burks did what Alec Burks does.  He got to the bucket!  He had 7 free throw attempts, and had some great drives to the basket.  The thing that stuck out to me with Burks was how much he handled the ball.  He handled the ball much more than we ever saw last year.

• Enes Kanter became EN3S KANT3R tonight by sinking his second 3 of his career.  It came on a spot up shot from the right corner.  Just as you would suspect, Kanter ran back on D with his 3’s held up high!  The most positive thing I saw from Kanter tonight was his renewed efforts to rebound defensively.  Last year he seemed to only want to rebound when it meant he could score.  Tonight he showed he still have the body and potential to be an elite rebounder.

• Trevor Booker looked active and much more agile than I remember from his Washington days.  He is going to be a fan favorite.  He does not take plays off.  He will remind a lot of people of Paul Millsap this year.

• Steve Novak can shoot the ball!  Watching him warm up was a thing of wonder!  He has nothing besides SHOOT on his mind.  He is going to make a lot of shots for us this year.

• Snyder’s new system was exactly what was advertised!  Quick and unselfish.  The players passed the ball and there were very few selfish talks taken.  Pace was emphasized.  The players did many things to speed the pace up.  One of said practices we saw was the players would inbound the ball as soon as it touched their hands.  If quick transition didn’t lead to an easy basket, they got into their sets quicker than we ever saw last year.

• My favorite moment of the night was when we saw Quin Snyder help Dante Exum learn from his mistakes.  In the 4th quarter during a long run of Dante at the point, Snyder saw something he did not like from Dante.  He quickly subbed Exum out of the game.  Quin pulled him aside, and explained what he did wrong and how it should have been executed.  Instead of sending Exum to the bench he sent him right back out on the next available opportunity.  Dante was only out of the game for 11 seconds.  Quin takes player development seriously, to the extent that he is actively trying to teach during a game.  He is going to make sure he helps his players succeed.

It was great to get a win over a team that’s structure was untampered with over the offseason.  We saw the team really push the ball, and swing it around the court.  At the same time, we saw that our team is still young.  They are still working to build chemistry together, in fact most of our turn overs came bad passes out of miscommunication.

Our optimism should be tempered, as this was only preseason.  However, the team looked good!  Jazz fans have a lot of reasons to be excited this year.  If the Jazz played like they did tonight, they will likely surprise some people with their performance.

Oh and Enes Kanter has a fun fact that he wants us all to learn.

Pronounced (poorly with an American accent) “oosch-luke.”