For just the second time in the last 22 years, the Utah Jazz committed 29 turnovers during a single NBA game.
It should go without saying that a team coughing up the ball that many times is probably not going to win, but the Oklahoma City Thunder made sure to punish the Jazz for every turnover on Tuesday night. In a 133-106 win over the Jazz at the Paycom Center, the Thunder converted the Jazz’s 29 turnovers into 45 points on the other end.
“The story of the game is relatively obvious, it’s the turnovers,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “With 29 turnovers, 18 of them live ball, our ball security got really exposed tonight...they really preyed on us tonight in terms of our lack of quick decision making, got caught in the crowd too much, we didn’t fight for our space very well. This was going to be the determining factor of the game, from my standpoint, before the game started. It ended up being very much the deciding part of the game.”
Prior to Tuesday night, the Jazz’s turnover record under Hardy was 26, and it was just the sixth game since 2001 in which a Jazz team has committed 29-or-more turnovers.
If you’re looking for a silver lining from a turnover standpoint, at least the Jazz didn’t eclipse the team’s overall turnover record. The franchise record, 37 turnovers, was notched by the New Orleans Jazz in a 1976 win over the San Antonio Spurs. The record after the move to Utah is 32 turnovers, which was set in a 1981 loss to the Spurs.
But the 29 miscues on Tuesday night aren’t just problematic because of the high number. The Jazz’s lack of care for the ball could actually shield them from being able to see and understand some of the growth that they are experiencing defensively.
“I actually felt like in the first half, in particular, that our half court defense was pretty good, but they scored so much off of the turnovers,” Hardy said. “It’s frustrating for the guys, because a lot of the hard work they’re doing on our defense isn’t showing because it’s all kind of blocked out by these live ball turnover possessions where they get out in transition. Somebody would look at the box score and say, ‘What do you mean? They scored 133 points, they aren’t getting better at defense.’ But they are. But 29 turnovers has nothing to do with your (half-court) defense, that’s your offense, that’s your decision making, that’s how strong you are with the ball.”
Not only do the turnovers shield from defensive work in the half court, but they don’t allow the Jazz to run through their offense in the way that they have been working on behind the scenes.
This is not about the Jazz winning or losing. Even without that number of turnovers, most teams are going to beat this Jazz squad on talent alone. This is about the players and their ability to actually be a valuable part of an NBA system. Frankly, if they can’t take care of the ball they aren’t going to be able to stay in the league.
The tough part is that it’s not just one player and it’s not just one type of turnover. It’s a number of players on the Jazz roster and turnovers in every way imaginable. But for Hardy, more than anything else, he worries about the players being able to build good defensive habits and losing motivation based on their care for the ball.
“My biggest fear is that the guys don’t see or feel that they are improving when it comes to the the foundation of our defense,” he said. “The turnovers are going to be something that if we can’t get it under control, it’s going to be distracting from the things that are improved.”
