Utah stalled again on startup

In France, during the cups, the team at a higher level than the other has a points handicap at the start of the match. Jazz, for his part, creates his own handicap (which he could do without…).

After being swept 23-0 at Madison Square Garden, earlier in Decemberto open against the Knicks, Will Hardy’s men experienced a similar scenario a night spent in Denver : 19-0 conceded to start.

« The match went by pretty quickly. The 3-point line can sometimes make things seem more difficult than they really are. They scored six 3-pointers out of nine attempts at the start of the match, and ended up with 24. On our side, we scored just one out of 11 at the start. The game got off to a bad start early on », Will Hardy calmly describes.

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray really set their pace and found their skill from the first seconds of the game. The former finished with a triple-double (14 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists), while the latter was the best scorer of his team with 27 points and six awarded baskets.

As much as Cam Johnson who found color again. The result: The Nuggets tied their franchise record with 24 field goals (24/46). Will Hardy still wants to look at the positive: the fact that his team won the second and third quarters, or scored more points overall.

25 points behind after one quarter

« I’m proud of the team for the way they played the rest of the game “, he said. The fact remains that this disastrous start – 40-15 after twelve minutes – put an additional burden on his team. Starting with a 19-point handicap after five minutes of play, on the floor of one of the best teams in the West? Hello challenge.

« There is responsibility as a carrier. It’s something that’s part of the role, you have to be ready to step in. As far as shooting at the beginning of the game, we had a game in New York that was quite similar to this one. We had good chances, but we didn’t manage to convert them. I’ll never be the coach that yells ‘shoot’, but that’s part of the game. You must be able to answer. », demands the trainer.

The latter, who established Lauri Markkanen, Keionte George, Jusuf Nurkic, Ace Bailey and Svi Mikhailiuk, believes that defense in transition must be secured. Whether the address is there or not.

« For me, it’s more about preparing the game plan and trying to manage these two aspects well: transition defense and player recognition. Very poor shooting percentages can happen, but when it takes a while against a team of this level, you find yourself in a delicate situation. », concludes Will Hardy.

Since the beginning of the season, within the league, only Kings are worse than their formation in terms of the first quarter.