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MEMPHIS — Two things stood out to Will Hardy on Saturday in Memphis.
The first: The Jazz were pretty handsy on defense, holding on shifts and reaching in on isolations, leading to 34 Memphis free throws.
The second: Utah shot 12-of-47 from 3-point range with Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton and Keyonte George combining to go 2-of-24.
That's a pretty bad combo — and it turned into a pretty bad result. The Grizzlies routed the Jazz 125-103 at the FedEx Forum.
(Or a good one, if you are a tanking fan. The Jazz have the second-worst record in the NBA and have two wins less than the third-worse team. But back to the game ... )
Jaren Jackson Jr. had 28 points to lead the Grizzlies, and Zach Edey finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. Edey could also add a forced ejection to his stat line, too.
Early in the second quarter, tensions were rising between the two teams. A minor scuffle broke out when George didn't let go of the ball following a turnover, leading to some pushing and shoving between the squads. George and Ja Morant were given technicals for their role in the antics and everyone moved one.
Or not ...
Less than a minute later, Drew Eubanks — who was also in the middle of that dustup — accelerated toward the paint and put a shoulder into Edey. After review, the officials deemed the shoulder a non-basketball play and called a Flagrant 2 foul, ejecting Eubanks from the game.
Edey scored 14 of his 19 points after the incident.
But for Utah, the minor altercations were the least of its worries.
"When you don't make shots, and a team like that is constantly playing after a miss, it's hard to get your defense set," Hardy said. "It's hard to shrink those gaps appropriately because they're coming at you with a lot of force."
The Grizzlies play like they are shot of a cannon every possession. They are the fastest-paced team in the NBA, and rarely walk the ball up the court, regardless of the situation. But give them the ball in an obvious transition opportunity and they become near-impossible to stop.
Utah found that out and then some. A poor shooting night cost them on both ends of the floor.
"Those things can compound," Hardy said. "But overall, I thought the team's competitiveness and fight on the whole was good from start to finish. There are plenty of individual plays to point out where I think we could have done a better job, but it was a tough night for us shooting the ball from the perimeter."
Markkanen was 1-for-8 and missed his first seven attempts (the last one came in the final minute when the game was well-decided). Sexton was also 1-for-8 and George missed all eight of his 3-point attempts.
As for George, he came off the bench for the first time this season, with Hardy choosing to start rookie Isaiah Collier next to Collin Sexton in the backcourt. George and Collier both ended up playing a team-high 33 minutes, but it may be a move that signals a change for the Jazz.
Collier is the better set-up man and that might fit better with the likes of Markkanen, Walker Kessler, etc. George is a more natural scorer and might be better suited as a sixth man in the long term. Was this Hardy trying a different dynamic out or a more permanent change? Time will tell.
Even with the poor shooting, Hardy thought the offense was mostly fine. It's just that with the 3-point shot being such a big part of the modern NBA — and especially for the Jazz — nights like Saturday's will happen.
"When a guy like Lauri is 0-for-5, you tell him to shoot the sixth, seventh and eighth one — that's just the way we're gonna play, and that's how I believe in our team operating," Hardy said. "Same thing with Collin, same thing with Keyonte.
"It's tough because there isn't necessarily a pivot because you have to read what the game gives you. And I thought the team did a decent job of generating those catch-and-shoots from three. It was just a tough night shooting the ball."
