Utah Jazz Lose Nail Biter To Suns 100-105

Feb 26, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz point guard Alec Burks (10) dribbles the ball during the second half against the Phoenix Suns at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz won 109-86. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Two of the best preseason teams went at it tonight, and it was fun!  The Suns and the Utah Jazz are similar teams with a young roster and a young head coach.  Though, the Suns are further along in their rebuilding process, this game was competitive!

The teams went at it all game and it went down to the wire!  In the end the Favor-less Jazz couldn’t beat the healthy Suns and lost 100-105.  The Suns were the first team to score more than 10 fast-break points against the Jazz with 20.  This is not a surprise, as Phoenix led the league in fast-break points last year and added personnel to bolster that part of their game.  This was a good matchup for the Jazz to have before the season, so that Quin can make some needed adjustments.

So let’s take a look at some of the notes from the game.

• Derrick Favors did not play tonight and showed he may be the most important player on the team.  Without him in the passing was much less fluid.  He is our best passing big, and it showed without him in the lineup.

• Gordon Hayward looked awesome tonight.  He was able to get whatever he wanted offensively against Gerald Green and PJ Tucker.  He showed an array of moves including a sweet Euro-step, NASTY dunk(check it here), and wonderful shooting.  We saw Hayward get a fair amount of points coming off a screen at the elbow.  He would take a hand off from the pick setter, creating space for him to rise and fire.  This will be a deadly play we see throughout the year.  It’s hard to defend because Hayward’s passing ability leaves the team guessing.  Will he shoot or pass to the roller?  His strength is helping him get to the basket at will.  We also saw Hayward play some 4, which I think we will see against small-ball lineups.

• Alec Burks finally hit his first two 3s of the preseason tonight.  Alec did what he does and got to the basket! Alec ended the night with 11 free throw attempts, contributing to his 20 points on the night.  I liked what I saw from Alec, though he seemed to force a couple shots.  After one of those shots we actually saw Burke rip in to him a little.  Burks responded by giving the same look I give my little brother when he chastises me.

• Trey Burke is going to be good guys!  I’m not saying he will be a top 5 PG or anything, but he looks like he can develop into a top 10 guy.  He has changed his game more than anyone during the offseason.  We saw Burke get to the rack multiple times tonight against Eric Bledsoe, who is the strongest defensive PG in the NBA.  That is wonderful improvement!  That being said, Burke had possibly his worse game of the preseason.  He went 5-14 from the field and was not dishing like he has most the preseason

• Dante Exum didn’t play much, but he used his length to get an awesome block on an Isaiah Thomas jumper.

• Rodney Hood played 25 minutes tonight because we clearly needed his shooting.  He went 3-5 from 3 and our good friend David Locke was coining the “HOOD IS GOOD” phrase that we will hear a lot of.  The most exciting aspect of his game was that he finished with 8 rebounds.  Rebounding was often considered one of Hood’s biggest weaknesses coming into the draft.

• Rudy Gobert got some nice run in tonights game.  He rebounded and played great defense.  Rudy got 4 fouls pretty quick into the game though and again proved that he still needs to learn not to foul to stay on the court.

• Trevor Booker got the start over Rudy Gobert because, as Quin said, the team doesn’t have another center to come off the bench.

Now on to the regular season!

Check out the box score here.