Poor defense has been the theme of this season for the Utah Jazz, and in a 140-124 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, the team’s defensive issues were once again exposed.
Steph Curry scored a game-high 27 points to lead Golden State, which shot 53% from the field and 43% from 3-point range, to its 27th victory of the season. The loss was the fourth straight defeat for the Jazz, who dropped to 15-33 on the year.
Wednesday night’s loss was the ninth time this season the Jazz’s porous defense allowed 140 or more points. Utah has the worst defense in the NBA, allowing 127.5 points per game.
On the second night of a back-to-back with everyone except forward Kevin Love available, Utah was consistently too slow in responding to Golden State’s offensive actions, resulting in a multitude of open looks for a Warriors team that doesn’t miss many of those.
“We were steps behind on every action tonight defensively. Their cutting had us spinning like a top the entire game and it resulted in a lot of catch-and-shoot 3s,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
“Credit to Golden State, they played with a ton of energy and force. We looked slow, sloppy, run-down. That’s how you get a result like that. So we got to get our energy back, be ready to go Friday.”
Moses Moody scored 26 points to add to Curry’s game-high performance, and six other Warriors turned in double-digit scoring nights in Golden State’s dominant victory.
Golden State’s excellent cutting ability and constant off-ball movement make them tough to defend. The Jazz don’t have the defensive personnel this season to match up favorably against talented offenses, and that showed once again on Wednesday.
Time and time again, the Jazz allowed the Warriors to get easy looks.
“Their cutting actions happen with the ball in a variety of places. It’s not just top of the key. It’s not just post. They do some posts, some elbow, some top of the key, sometimes on the wing. They find different places to make the ball static and they cut,” Hardy said. “It’s a lot of different situations. They require communication. Sometimes it’s two people involved, sometimes it’s three.”
Curry’s off-ball movement is up there with the all-time greats, and he displayed that in his 27-point performance.
“The threat of Steph Curry is something that we all react to. Steph is the greatest shooter of all time, also a pretty outstanding cutter … He finds his way to the basket cutting for layups and just draws so much attention that a lot of times he’s taking two people with him,” Hardy said.
“They do a great job as a group of making quick decisions once they create the rotations defensively. And it’s just a little bit different because it’s not dribble-drive that’s creating the rotations — it’s a lot of cutting.”
Hardy wanted to see his group be more physical with the Warriors in off-ball situations and make their offensive sets tougher to execute. He didn’t see that from his team in yet another loss that left a lot to be desired on the defensive end.
“We didn’t do a good job of keeping our body between them and the basket. And we weren’t physical enough to try to slow them up and so they had us in rotations, not really because of drives, but because of cuts,” Hardy said.
The Jazz made a run to close the third quarter, trimming a 99-82 deficit to 101-93, but a quick 6-0 Warriors spurt to open the fourth quarter held the Jazz from truly getting back into the game.
One bright spot offensively for the Jazz in the loss was Brice Sensabaugh, who turned in 22 points to lead Utah in scoring.
The 22-point outing was the seventh time this month that the third-year player has scored 20 or more points.
“He’s obviously a great, gifted scorer. He can do his thing and I think we’ve been trying to just kind of make the defense (have to) to load up to him with his scoring ability. So he’s been getting better with making plays off the dribble and reading the weak-side defense,” said Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, who scored 18 points.
Hardy highlighted Sensabaugh’s progress in getting more 3-pointers off, and that showed on Wednesday as he made four of nine shots from deep.
“Getting his feet set, especially in the pocket against the switch, he’s done a really good job of that. Then when he does draw matchups that are favorable and he catches the ball on the run and transition or late in the clock, he’s been able to create some midrange opportunities,” Hardy said.
“I think the work he’s done on his body shows when he makes plays around the rim. He’s elevating well and finishing well. He’s got a wide array of skills on offense that continue to show up.”
Next up, the Jazz wrap up their six-game home stand on Friday against the Brooklyn Nets before hitting the road for five straight.