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The Team or the Triangle?
Posted by: Earl-Stevens on May 24th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.
Since being swept out of the playoffs over a week ago, we’ve all been bombarded by press – local and national- about the Jazz “trying hardâ€, but not having enough talent to overcome the Lakers.
Although I’m still angry at Boozer for missing that final regular season game against Phoenix (I know – I should let it go), he’s taking an undue amount of criticism for the Jazz’ failure in the second round. Boozer’s defense is certainly not his forte, but in this series, every member of the Jazz suffered defensive failures. The lack of consistent defense – not a lack of talent – is what lost this series.
This year, the Jazz showed particular weakness against the triangle or “triple post†offense. Here’s their record against the few teams that run the triangle:
| Team | Regular Season
Record |
Playoff Record | Total |
| LA Lakers | 1-3 | 0-4 | 1-7 |
| Minnesota T-Wolves | 2-2 | 0-0 | 2-2 |
| Indiana Pacers | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Total | 4-6 | 0-4 | 4-10 |
Some notes:
- Before becoming the T-Wolves’ coach, Kurt Rambis served as an assistant coach under Phil Jackson from 2002 through 2009. Rambis doesn’t run a “pure†triangle offense (Phil Jackson is reportedly the only coach running the offense full time), but his system is certainly triangle-heavy. In any event, 15-win Minnesota got two of its 15 wins from the Jazz.
- Indiana’s defense also isn’t a pure triangle, but during the second game against the Jazz this season, they looked to be running it. Hibbert, Murphy, and McRoberts looked like Gasol, Bynum and Odom in the post. When the Jazz tried to lock them down underneath, Murphy moved outside and he and Granger put on a 3-pt clinic. This game reminded me a lot of Playoff Game 3 vs. the Lakers.
Looking deeper into the stats, there’s more evidence that we have problems with the triangle:
Jazz Defense Vs. Triangle Offense – 2010 Regular Season & Playoffs
|
Triangle Teams |
Reg. Season Avg. |
Triangle |
|||
|
(Season & Playoffs) |
|||||
| Pts Allowed: |
104.57 |
98.9 |
5.67 |
||
| Opp FG%: |
47.91% |
44.90% |
3.01% |
||
| Point Differential |
-4.57 |
5.3 |
|||
Given the above stats, I don’t know that the answer is to blow up the team and seek “missing pieces of talent†that can get us past the Lakers. The Jazz run their own unique offense that requires a lot of time to learn, and the right players to fit within it. We have talent. Blowing up the team would ruin our offense without addressing the glaring defensive problems.
A simpler alternative. . .How about running a summer clinic on defending the triangle offense?
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A good part of that HATED Laker offense is “the gift.”
Without Pau and “the freeby”. Fish, the Jazz would do very well against the HATED Lakers..
So, the STATs might be skewed a bit in favor of the triangle.
Also, the Jazz have had problems with the Wolves before they ran the triangle.
Jazzaholic
I think the main problem with LA was their size. No disrespect to Fes and Kosta, but in the playoffs we had no one over 6-9 that was worth a flip.
The fact that Jonny Flynn owned D-Will was one of the major factors for the Wolves.
In the second game against Indiana, they hit more 3s than I’ve seen any team hit and the Jazz’s offense stagnated in the second half.
Against the Lakers it’s just tough. They have 4 players the Jazz can’t guard (Odom, Bynum, Kobe and Gasol). AK can guard Odom, but was hurt in the beggining of the series and Sloan opts to let him on Kobe for some time. It’s tough to beat a good team whenever there’s one player you can’t guard, let alone four. If the Jazz’s offense wasn’t so good, that series would have looked Hawks-ugly.
Wow and are you mad that Memo missed the Laker series. Did he not try hard enough to play? Boozer did all he could to play.
I think this is a coincidence. Jazz were also 2-2 against the Sacramento Kings, the Rockets, 1-3 against the Thunder, 0-2 against Atlanta. They lost to some talented teams and they lost when they played tall, athletic teams.
And Boozer deserves as much blame for his defense as he has been getting. All of the Jazz players do. But Boozer’s attempts at guarding Gasol were particularly discouraging.