SALT LAKE CITY — So after another preseason game against a foreign team with no NBA-quality players, what do we know about the Utah Jazz?
Well, we know they can win by 20-plus points by hardly breaking a sweat as they defeated Israeli squad Maccabi Haifa 117-78 Wednesday night at Vivint Arena, following up on Monday night’s 24-point win over the Sydney Kings of Australia.
We also know that the Jazz have a very deep team as many of the second-team players were the stars of Wednesday's win, particularly fourth-year guard Dante Exum and veteran Alec Burks.
Exum, who had 11 points and three assists in 20 minutes on Monday, ran the team smoothly at point guard on Wednesday, dishing out six assists, playing solid defense and scoring nine points. His best move was midway through the third quarter when he drove down the right side, spun completely around and found himself all alone for an uncontested dunk.
“That’s our expectation from Dante, that he can come in the game and impact the game defensively,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence offensively, his decision-making has been good and he’s understanding more and more what we’re trying to do and what he needs to do out there.”
Burks led the team in scoring with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range, and rebounding, with eight boards while playing a team-high 23 minutes.
“One of Alec’s strengths is the defensive glass,” said Snyder. “When he gets a rebound he can attack off the dribble. And he’s been very decisive shooting the ball.”
After having a full squad available Monday night, the Jazz were missing four key players Wednesday. Starter Rodney Hood and sixth-man Joe Johnson were “rested,” while reserve guards Donovan Mitchell and Raul Neto sat out for precautionary reasons — hamstring tightness for Mitchell and quad tightness for Neto.
The Jazz started Thabo Sefolosha, who has 467 starts in his 12-year NBA career in place of Hood and he played well with six points and three assists.
Rudy Gobert had a good line with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting and also blocked three shots in just 17 minutes, while Joe Ingles also scored 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in his 20 minutes.
With a 32-point lead after three quarters, the Jazz were able to get all 16 dressed players in the game and all 16 scored, including Nate Wolters, Taylor Braun, Eric Griffin and Naz Mitrou-Long, who aren't likely to be around much longer.
For the second straight game, former Weber State star Joel Bolomboy, played well, scoring nine points with four rebounds and a blocked shot in 11 minutes, while Royce O'Neale, who is battling for one of the final spots on the team, had seven points, five rebounds and three assists.
New Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio had a rough night, going 0 for 4 from the field for the second straight game and finishing with six turnovers in just 15 minutes of action. Snyder passed it off, saying Rubio had his best practice of camp on Tuesday and said he’s still recovering from all the international play this summer.
Before the game, Haifa coach Offer Rahimi had said: “I really hope we have a good shooting day from the outside, especially against the Jazz who are very, very aggressive and massive in the paint defensively.”
Unfortunately for his team, that didn’t happen as Haifa shot a miserable 30.1 percent from the field. Brandon Bowman, a former Georgetown player, led Haifa with 28 points on 10 of 16, while Josh Smith, a 13-year NBA veteran who has been out of the league for a year, scored 18 points, but shot only 7 of 21 from the field.
The Jazz return to Vivint Arena Friday for their first preseason action against an NBA team when Phoenix pays a visit for a 7 p.m. game.