The Utah Jazz head into Monday night’s Game 4 with a 2-1 series lead over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Though the Jazz won Game 3 121-111, there are still areas in which they can improve and things that they believe will be crucial in Monday’s contest.
Keep the Grizzlies off the offensive glass
When the going gets tough for Memphis, there are a few things that they can rely on to help them dig out of a hole. One of their biggest strengths is the ability to get offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities.
In Saturday’s Game 3, the Grizzlies grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter alone, which was half of their team total of 16 for the game. The Jazz’s attention to detail when the ball goes up has to be better in Game 4.
“Sometimes we are looking at the ball instead of hitting our guys,” Bojan Bogdanovic said.
The Jazz’s best offense begins on defense, but that is only true if they can secure a rebound. Instead of ball-watching, the Jazz have to make sure they are boxing out their man and getting good position as soon as a Memphis shot is released.
Stop relying on Rudy Gobert to clean up messes
This is part of the rebounding problem, but a little more specific. Gobert, and even Derrick Favors to an extent, are being relied on to grab every rebound, to stop Ja Morant from scoring in the paint, and to all around put out every fire the Jazz encounter.
The Jazz need to give their big men some relief. When Gobert moves up to contest a Morant floater, that’s when they need players like Bogdanovic, Joe Ingles and Royce O’Neale to crash the boards.
Additionally, the Jazz would make things a lot easier on their centers if they would put more pressure on the ball and make things more difficult from the perimeter. It’s obviously the Jazz’s defensive scheme to funnel things into Gobert’s orbit, but that doesn’t mean they can’t try to slow things down before it gets to Gobert.
Understand Memphis’ mindset
The Grizzlies do not want to lose two straight games at home and be facing a Game 5 elimination situation after winning Game 1 on the road.
“They’re going to come out aggressive,” Ingles said. “They’re down, 2-1. They’re obviously going to want to win at home and want us to come back here again.”
Through the first three games of the series, there’s always been a period when the Grizzlies turn up the intensity and go on a run. There’s no doubt they’ll have that again on Monday night, so the Jazz need to make sure that even if they aren’t making shots and have an offensive lull that they keep things tight on defense to prevent a total collapse.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven series between the Jazz and Grizzlies tips off at 7:30 p.m. MDT on TNT.