Opponent Scouting: Utah Jazz
Tonight at 9:00pm EST the Detroit Pistons continue their trip west with a visit to Utah to face the Jazz. The Pistons are on one day of rest and their 3rd game in 4 nights after squeaking by the Kings. The Jazz are also on one day of rest after losing to Houston.
The Them:
The Jazz enter this game with the best offense in the NBA and the 12th best defense. Superstar Donovan Mitchell is out with a concussion and the Jazz have been playing their worst ball of the season, having lost 6 of their last 7 games.
With Mitchell out, the offense is going to be a group effort for Utah. Rudy Gobert gets his through rolls and putbacks to the tune of 16 hyper-efficient points per game and also anchors the defense. Mike Conley is older than he once was but is still very capable as a point guard and can both score and facilitate at a solid level. Bojan Bogdanovic is a shooter who’s also big and classic white-guy sneaky athletic. Royce O’Neal is a good defender who shoots a bit, Joe Ingles is a good shooter passer and defender.
Jordan Clarkson is not very efficient but he’s a classic spark-plug type off of the bench who can score in bunches. Eric Paschall is workable in small doses, Danuel House can shoot a bit, they have some other kinda players that might get a few minutes.
I will readily admit that I wasn’t playing super-close attention to Utah the past couple of weeks and didn’t realize how badly it had gone so I can’t say exactly what has gone wrong recently. Mitchell has only missed a couple of games so it isn’t just that. Overall though, this team has offensive firepower from lots of places, and even if it isn’t the defensive juggernaut it once was, they defend at a solid level. My guess is that they will stabilize and be just fine in the long-run.
Matchups to watch:
Pistons vs. Energy: 3rd game in 4 nights and a close game previously all on the road can make for tired legs and this Jazz team will be itching to right the ship. If this one starts to slip its hard to see Detroit pulling it back or Utah letting off the pedal.
Pistons vs. Team defense: As mentioned above, without Mitchell, this Jazz team is bringing scoring from lots of places. It isn’t just “slow down Mitchell” it's going to take a team effort defensively.
Stewart vs. Gobert: Stewart has a strange all-or-nothing outcome against guys way bigger/athletic than him. Sometimes they are clearly unprepared for his energy and strength and other times he just gets punked. The Pistons can’t afford to have him get punked by the much bigger Gobert.
Hamidou Diallo vs. Push the pedal down: He has been a consistent bright spot, if he keeps this up he may even earn a ticket out of Detroit at the deadline.
Pistons vs. Bogdanovic: As much as it will be a team effort, Bojan stands out as an issue here. Without Jerami Grant, the Pistons don’t have a good option for him defensively and he tends to feast on smaller defenders that he can just shoot over.
So in conclusion…
Run for the hills if:
The Pistons fall behind early and clearly pack it in
Bogdanovic is totally unbothered
The Pistons attackers are struggling to finish over Gobert
Wink knowingly at your friends if:
Gobert consistently shoots highly annoyed glances at Beef Stew
Cade Cunningham cares very little for Gobert’s DPOY awards
The Jazz are actually still in a real funk and can’t find a rythmn
Opportunities for me to look stupid:
Stew struggles with Gobert
The Jazz get right
Jazz win by many points
What do you think? Can the Pistons win two in a row?