La par Jaren Jackson Jr. – Lauri Markkanen’s enthusiasm for Will Hardy
Five “Tall Ball” version for Jazz in Orlando. Will Hardy logically decided to include his new recruit among his starters, Jaren Jackson Jr.leaving his usual pair of interiors, Jusuf Nurkic etc Lauri Markkanen. The latter was therefore aligned at position 3.
A winning formula, at least for the beginning of the meeting. For example, we saw Jusuf Nurkic switch skins to former Grizzlies, who took advantage of the “mismatch” against his former teammate, Desmond Bain, in the paint. The same Jackson Jr. then transferred the skin “chest to hand” to the Finn in 3 points.
« There is reason to be excited. I thought Jaren, John (Konchar) and Vince (Williams Jr.) were great for their first night with us. The top five, with Jaren, Lauri, Nurk, Ace (Bailey) and Keionte (George), had a few moments of wavering in attack, which is to be expected. But I think there are many things we can build on », analyzed by Will Hardy.
According to the coach, whose team was up to 17 points ahead, the match slipped away from the Jazz because of the 39 points the Magic scored after 24 turnovers by Utah. Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. each lost 3. But the newcomer still managed to make his first with his new team, collecting 22 points (9/17 shooting) in 25 minutes, with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Both capable of punishing from distance
« He has been a very good player for some time, he has shown various ways of attacking. Obviously, we tried to get him to move a little bit tonight, and we’re still trying to get our head around the different things we can do with him. He has a great touch. This little ‘push shot’, half way between a ‘hover’ and an arm flip, that can shoot with both hands, is a real weapon », enthuses the coach.
A weapon he used extensively inside this game, particularly punishing several times with his left hand. ” Having two guys of this size, both capable of shooting from the outside and pressuring the rim, even if they do it in slightly different ways, will force opposing teams to make tough choices in terms of scoring. », underlines the technician.
On the night, his Finnish star drew three penalties from behind the arc to finish with 27 points (12/21 overall). This season, he is averaging 36% from behind the arc – the same percentage as his new racket partner – which is slightly worse than his career average (37%).
Also on defense, Will Hardy believes the cumulative size of the three interiors combined together made the task difficult for the Magic, who were also satisfied with 40 points scored in the opposing racket (compared to 58 for the Jazz).
« So I expect there will be nights in the future where Jaren will be the beneficiary of all of this, and other nights where it will be Lauri. But I thought they worked well together on the court and Keyonte did a good job trying to get them both involved. Nurk is still a good creator for us. So yes, these two actually make a formidable duo on both ends of the court », term Will Hardy.
2026-02-08 13:53:00
