[ad_1]
Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz 111-107 victory over the Salt Lake Tribune Memphis Grizzlies Utah Jazz defeated writer Andy Larsen.
1. Without Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley manages the 4th quarter load
With Donovan Mitchell seated for the game, the Jazz came down the straight in need of someone else to put themselves in the spotlight. And if it was predictable that it was Mike Conley who did – he did it for years in this very field – we should recognize how good he was at doing it.
Conley shot 5-5 in the fourth quarter for 13 points and added three assists (two for three, one for two) to his nine minutes of the fourth quarter, winning one steal, but also two turnovers during his time at the head. He wasn’t as dominant as Mitchell, but the results speak for themselves: Conley’s play pushed the Jazz to victory.
In particular, Conley was able to repeatedly step into the paint and knock down the mid-range float or jumper. It was the last basket of the Jazz game, and it was a big basket: without it, they would not have been able to safely maintain their lead in the last minute of the game.
I also want to highlight his defensive contribution for the recording, although it certainly doesn’t show up in the box score. Yes, Morant had 36 points on 18 shots. And yet, I thought Conley had defended him pretty well anyway, and had some of the toughest shots imaginable to hit that total goal. It’s a great early Conley gang, for example.
I didn’t realize it until the Grizzlies broadcast pointed it out, but Conley’s 1.3 steals per game qualify him for 17th steal per game in the NBA rankings. He had four tonight.
2. Bojan Bogdanovic, post-up passer
In general, post-ups are not very effective games. This is why the NBA has stopped posting players to such an extent: when defenses are able to push defensively on the block, assist from all angles to get blocks and steals, and most of the time, the shot is contested. , all of this is less effective than most other scoring methods.
The Jazz’s only exception was Bojan Bogdanovic: Quin Snyder always lets him operate on the block, especially if the other team tries to keep him with a smaller player. Is this a good offense?
Well, if we just look at the scoring aspect, not really. According to Synergy Sports, Bogdanovic is averaging 0.94 points per possession on his post-up plays when he takes it on his own. He even shoots 48% on those opportunities, but they’re still two, and he turns her over more than he gets caught in those situations.
But when you add the passes, when the defense engages and Bogdanovic is able to find the open man, it becomes really effective. Those possessions are averaging 1.76 points so far this season, much better.
We have two examples of that tonight. Bogdanovic goes to work in the post, sees the defense attacking him or about to pass him, and finds the shooter open for an easy look.
These are really great passes! Bogdanovic has done a good job this season.
Now what’s going to be interesting is if a playoff opponent, having diligently spotted the Jazz, is going to go to the trouble of sending that second man to Bogdanovic given the stats involved. You’d probably think not, but in some cases where they try to hide a smaller defender on top of him, or just get up against in transition defense, teams will likely end up overtaking him – to their own detriment.
3. The plane incident
Yesterday, the Jazz plane was involved in a bird incident that forced an emergency landing at the Salt Lake City airport. Bird strikes are relatively common – more than 13,000 occur each year in the United States – but rarely do as much damage. According to the FAA, only 15% cause damage, and fires and engine failures, like the experienced Jazz, are quite rare.
We asked Conley and Jordan Clarkson about their experience on the plane yesterday. Rather than summarizing, I thought it would be better to include the whole story of what they had said.
Jordan Clarkson:
So where I was sitting on the plane, that’s where I could see the engine and everything. I happened to be a bad kid and would get up and grab something from my bag as we took off. And I just remember going back to my seat and when I got to my seat, I just hear a loud bang. Mike and I looked at each other and he was like, oh, ‘it was the birds! I guess, Mike, had seen the birds go through the window and then saw them as it was. So all I heard was a bang. And then I turned around to look out the window and saw the whole engine shake and everything.
And then you see everyone in the back kind of like reacting to what’s going on. And a lot of people in the back that was sitting like behind the engine, they saw an explosion of flames. So immediately they probably think the plane has completely caught on fire. And I see everyone reacting to that. And just remembering – this whole situation was pretty crazy. The whole plane just started to shake.
It’s definitely an experience I’m happy to be able to relate, because like I said a lot of us have come to love a point, at least 30 seconds into this flight everyone got to the point where it was like – it could be over for us. And, you know, it’s sad to say that. And I don’t play with death or anything like that.
What happened when the pilots told you a few minutes later that you were going to turn around and return to the airport?
Yeah that was probably the most calming part, the flight attendants and pilots were very calm when they took the intercom telling us what had happened, saying we lost the engine, that we were going to be able to land somewhere, and they said they were going to turn around.
So that was really a heartwarming thing, but we were all looking out the window like, ‘dude just … land anywhere. We do not care. We can check everything later, once in the field. Please get this plane down and let us live and get over it.
So yeah, it was definitely a calming kind of thing once the pilot got there, he was super calm and, you know, tell us what was going on. And, we got down to the ground, yelling at him to land, bringing us back safe and sound, all that.
Mike Conley:
Well, yeah, well, for the bunch of us, I think it was me, JC, Joe, Miye, Favs – we’re all kinda there between the two wings of the plane and all of that. suddenly it was like there was an explosion. Literally this is what it looked like to most people on the plane, like we hit something big and the plane immediately started to bounce and then tip to the left.
People in the back of the plane said they saw flames. And the people at the front obviously didn’t know what was going on. And immediately the altitude started to drop a bit and we started looking down and wondering what just happened. And no one knows, everyone is calm. You know, we’re just in shock. And it took the pilots probably five to ten minutes, probably ten minutes or so to go through everything, go through their checks and come back to us and let us know what was going on, because it was obvious something was wrong. not with the plane. . It was as if the plane was falling apart in the air. So for us, for five, ten minutes, it was like utter helplessness. So, you know, we’re thankful it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it was scary.
For 10, 15 minutes, I think we all wondered if we were going to be here today. So that was how serious it was for us. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know the guys were trying to text their family and just in case. It was that kind of situation. And we are thrilled and grateful for the pilots and the staff and what they are able to do to get us home safely.
And I think a lot of us were upset. Obviously you don’t just go through something like that and get back on a plane and go back to play a game. So that put life in perspective for all of us and I say we’re all thankful for it. to be here and to do what we love to do.
Because they were some pretty scary stories, here’s a fun fact to end the Triple Team: The remains of a bird that hit a plane are called “snarge” – a word that has disputed origins, but the he most credible origin I found was an unknown the ornithologist did it by combining the words “snot” and “trash”.
After a bird strike, scientists examine the snarge to find out what type of bird struck the plane, so they can improve mitigation efforts to prevent birds from being in the path of planes so frequently. . I thought it was very clean.
[ad_2]
Source link