Every week during the regular season begins here at SCH with the Salt City Seven, a septet of recurring features that let us relive the biggest moments, key performances and hot issues in Jazzland from various angles. Check in every week for the quotes, stats, plays and performances that tell the stories from the last 168 hours in the world of the Jazz.
A quick look at a big-picture topic relevant to the Jazz’s week
This will go down as the week in Jazz history when Lauri Markkanen went supernova and when Ace Bailey truly arrived. That should be all Jazz Nation is buzzing about, but instead all of the chatter after a 2-2 week is about whether the team is winning too much.
Quick answer: Wins are fun. Wins are developmentally useful in that they give guys a sense of validation in their process. Wins are also about to get a lot more scarce, so it’s OK to enjoy them when they happen. (Utah might be favored in two games between now and December 26, and then they hit a road-heavy patch where 10 of their next 13 are outside of SLC.)
But that’s not the big story this week, and Mark Pereira already went there anyway. The story of the week has to be an absolutely dominant stretch by Markkanen.
The first Jazz player in 40 years to average 30+ at this point in the season, Markkanen is truly a different type of superstar. But just because he doesn’t dribble or handle as much as the game’s top stars doesn’t mean he isn’t the hub of everything the Jazz do.
Sunday’s win against Chicago was a perfect example. So much of what the Jazz did against the Bulls revolved around Markkanen — whether or not he actually touched the basketball. Like on this play:
The reason that worked for an easy Svi Mykhailiuk bucket is because the Jazz run this action all the time, and teams are paranoid about leaving Markkanen free to fire. In fact, here was the Jazz’s very next offensive trip, and notice the identical setup.
Because they *just* got burned by the Myhailiuk slip, the Bulls have that on their mind and drop back, but in so doing botch the switch, and Markkanen knows exactly where to find the seam in the defense.
That’s Markkanen’s whole game in a nutshell: he’s the Jazz player most responsible for being the brains and brawn of the offense. He’s constantly reading and reacting to what the defense chooses. Who cares if a lot of those reactions happen before he has the ball in his hands?! He’s still absolutely the hub of everything Utah does.
Watch him recognize from 25 feet away that there’s a switch he can go punish, so he signals to Isaiah Collier.
A prior 3-way screening action had left Jalen Smith guarding Collier. The guard could have easily tried to cook Smith, but instead he and Markkanen signal to each other, because they know they can use Smith’s more paint-centric tendencies and slower footing to get the Finn an open three if they run another ball screen to invite the switch.
Markkanen gets called a dependent star because of shots like this, but this is him directing the play, making the decisions and manipulating the defense. Sure, he does most of that before the ball is in his hands, but he’s still the architect behind a ton of what the Jazz run.
When he most looks like a traditional ball-in-hands scorer is when he’s attacking switches. There was plenty of that against Chicago, as the Bulls didn’t seem to know what to do with him.
Again, the setup on those two is eerily similar. On the first, he takes the pindown and then Iversons his way over the weak side because he wants Ayo Dosunmu switched. Then on the second one he gets Josh Giddey and baits the helper. Again, these look a little bit more like our traditional vision of a superstar going to work.
At that point, Chicago seems to realize they’ve been getting toasted all night on switches. They get more selective about switching and instead assign Isaac Okoro to just stay in Markkanen’s jersey with him. Okoro is good at getting through screens and is a plus defender overall. But he’s 6-foot-5. Markkanen has seven inches on him so there’s just little he can do here:
You can call this a “dependent scorer” or “7-foot Klay Thompson” because someone passed the ball to him, but that is painfully inaccurate given the degree to which he is running the show.
The reality is, this is a heliocentric offensive threat and the primary thinker and decision-maker in their offense. People have been saying since his All-Star leap three years ago that there wasn’t room left for him to expand because he’s not a frequent ball hander. He and Will Hardy heard that and said, “Bet.” The result is a completely different type of offensive superstar than we’re used to. But perhaps no less valuable.
NBA players just don’t average 30 points on 60% true shooting unless they’re the type of stars who appear on MVP ballots. Last year, only Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished above those levels. The year before, those two were joined by Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid. The only others to have completed a season like that in the past 10 years are LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard, Steph Curry and James Harden. Superduperstars, all of them.
He’s not even shooting way above his Utah-era norms (48-39-88 splits this year), it’s just that he and Hardy have figured out how to make him even more central to the Jazz’s offensive decision-making. Whatever you call this new version of offensive superstardom, it’s dominant and effective.
Telling or interesting words from Jazz people”He’s highly intentional. He, even at 19, fits in with us. He wants to do the right thing always. Ten games in. Once he gets to 20, he’s going to make another step. (and again) when he gets to 40, and once he gets a full season.”
-Veteran Kevin Love, on Bailey’s growth
The other major story this week was Bailey’s steady improvement. Bailey has drawn high praise for his patience and process as he eases into a role with more minutes and usage.
And it’s true: the rookie wing has mostly been thriving lately as a result of playing squarely within the system and not forcing stuff to happen. Even in his 21-point game against the Hawks, his buckets came via five catch-and-shoot jumpers, a breakaway dunk, a sneaky cutting layup, and a putback. He had a couple of 1- and 2-dribble threes as part of his 20-point game two nights earlier, but none of it felt like he was hijacking the offense.
He appears to have bought into a patient approach with lots of early learning. Jazz coach Will Hardy has called him a “sponge,” and Love has noticed the rook going out of his way to be guided by his more established peers.
“I didn’t have the presence of mind to reach out to someone who’s 18 years in, and 37 years old (and say), ‘Can you show me this footwork? Can you show me on film what you’re seeing?’ I’m very impressed by that.”
Foul trouble limited his opportunities in Sunday’s win, but at this point the trajectory is pretty promising: 13.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and .642 true shooting over his last five.
Stats that tell the story of the week
122
Markkanen has many games with 40+ just this season (3) as he had in his entire career previously. His 122 points since Tuesday are the most in a 3-game span by a Jazz player since 1998, and no Jazz player since Adrian Dantley in 1985 has hit the 13-game mark with a meatier average than Lauri’s current 30.6.
302
It’s pretty ironic that the two top team scoring performances this NBA season both belong to Utah, a bottom-8 offense overall. They hung 152 on Indiana and then a few nights later used extra periods to pile on another 150 against Chicago. Turns out it truly is a make-or-miss league: Utah mostly wins when the above-the-break threes are falling at a decent clip (3-0 above 35%, 2-8 otherwise), which is interesting since they’re literally last in the league in accuracy on those shots.
78+
From a positive offensive note to a concerning defensive one: there have been just seven games this NBA season in which a team racked up 78 or more by halftime, and Utah was on the receiving end of three of them. That includes Atlanta’s 80-point first half on Thursday. (They also had 78 themselves in the season opener.)
18
Atlanta’s 18 steals against the Jazz were also an NBA season high, and part of why Utah had a season-worst 22.2% turnover rate.
0:00.8
Keyonte George’s game-winner was an extremely rare kind of shot. It’s the first time this season a player has scored a go-ahead three in the final :05 of an overtime period. Only three such shots were made all last season, and only three the season before that.
Dissecting a Jazz scoring play
We did a ton of X-and-O dissection above, so let’s just quickly look at the play of the week:
The Lauri-Collier ballscreen gets Chicago’s best perimeter defender switched off of the ball, and that leaves Patrick Williams to defend the guard-guard handoff action. That’s what Utah wants, and he’s just a little slow to recognize the switch and get his feet pointed back out to the perimeter. Swish.
Recognizing the best (or most memorable) performances from each outing
Jazz 152, Pacers 128: Ace Bailey. The fundamental question behind Game Ball is some combination of, “Who was the most valuable player in a win?” and “Whose night will we remember that game for?” Quite often those answers are the same, but in this one it’s a really tough decision between game MVP Markkanen (35 points) and story-of-the-night Bailey, whose breakout game included 17 first-half points on the way to 20 overall. Markkanen was dominant throughout, but Bailey’s explosion was a bigger story. You really can’t go wrong either way, but the implications of Bailey’s arrival are far-reaching. Isaiah Collier’s pace-changing play and 11 assists of the bench deserve mention, as do meaty lines by Kyle Filipowski (16-7-3) and Svi Mykhailiuk (20-4-4).
Jazz 150, Bulls 147 (2OT): Lauri Markkanen. It’s a brutally tough call when you have in the same game a 47-piece with historical significance and a guy punctuating his own 33 with a near walk-off game-winning three. But ultimately, you just can’t have Lauri AVERAGE 40 over a 2-1 stretch and not get a Game Ball. And in reality, he is probably the answer to “game MVP” question and the “most memorable” question for how much the offense revolved around him. Even some of George’s own buckets came because the Bulls had absolutely no idea how to deal with Markkanen. George’s bounceback from a 2-for-14 start was special, but 47-7-2-2-2 (on .607 true shooting) simply tops 33-2-6-4-0 (on .525). Sensabaugh and Collier both deserve a ton of credit in this one, too.
Strong in defeat:
- Jazz 113, Wolves 120: Keyonte George. The third-year guard was obviously the best Jazz performance in this one: 27-6-6, and he even did OK as the primary defender on Anthony Edwards. Markkanen again had to battle good defense to get to 21-8-3, and Bailey adjusted well in his first game as a starter.
- Jazz 122, Hawks 132: Lauri Markkanen. His fifth 40-point game as a Jazzman just barely outshines perhaps Bailey’s best game yet: 21 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals. Jusuf Nurkic came very close to a triple-double (10-10-8, plus 5 steals!) and might have gotten there if the Jazz didn’t have to close smaller to adjust to Atlanta’s 5-out offense. George had a less efficient night but still wound up with 19-6-7.
What the next seven days have in store
It’s a Laker-heavy week, and in between bookend games against Luka & Co., Utah hosts the reigning champs.
Tuesday 11/18 @ Lakers: All signs point to LeBron James making his season debut in this one, because of course he will. Meanwhile, Doncic is carrying the Lake Show with 34-9-9 averages through 10 games, and Austin Reaves has contributed 28 a game to help them weather LBJ’s absence.
Friday 11/21 vs. Thunder: OKC’s start has been unreal: a 13-1 record despite the fact that All-NBA candidate Jalen Williams has yet to play. They have an absolutely dominant defense, and the league’s reigning MVP, who oh by the way is averaging 33-5-7.
Sunday 11/23 vs. Lakers: The Lakers don’t have to play another game in between their two bouts with the Jazz, a rare four days off in the middle of the season. They’ve won 7 of their last 9,and are +16.0 per 100 possessions in the 215 minutes Doncic and Reaves have shared the floor.
Random stuff for your enjoyment
We already featured Love’s love of Bailey… Let’s end with Love’s love of Love’s current situation.
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The schedule’s about to get a lot trickier, so hang on tight, Jazz fans!
