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Our big advantage
Posted by: Steve on October 17th, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Having watched 3 preseason games, one thing has stood out to me more so than anything, the quality of play from our 2nd unit.
Where most teams notice and feel a big drop off in talent and production from the starters, like the lakers, we basically have the same talent and production. This will be our secret weapon, and our calling card, just like it was a few years ago when we had Millsap and Harpring coming off the bench.
With the blend of talent and different skill sets from our guys, we really do have a great advantage. With Tinsley playing great, heady basketball; Foye spotting up for 3 and providing great defense; Burks’ ability to score in many different ways and his fearless mentality, which i think is our biggest advantage; Kanter providing a solid post man who rebounds like a madman; AND either Favors or Millsap, i would prefer Millsap of course, he would absolutely dominate 2nd units; With these guys, we have a second starting 5 off the bench.
So… Most of the time you hear something like “as long as our bench can keep us close, we’ll get our starters back in and be fine.” For us, i think you can flip that, as long as our starters keep us in the games, our bench will provide the knockout punch!
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7 Responses
This could not have happened at any better a time. After our bench gives us a lead at half and then our starters squander it away. First unit is not functioning well. Personnel has got to switch up or something
@dallan your right my man, not a better time, last night was a case in point! What would you suggest for the starting 5?
Now, I think we all could tell, Mo sitting out last night definitely hurt us, especially that 3rd quarter, so we can’t put too much into last night.
But boy, this second unit is good! We saw it in that 2nd quarter, and also during the 4th when they almost made a comeback from the lead that was squandered away by the starting 5.
I just think Millsap and Al need to be split up. We may have been close after the first quarter but was it our defense? No it was not the Clips missed a TON of wide open shots. We could have been in a hole from the get go. The thing is we had a whole year with those two in the paint and that was where the problem was last night. Favors has got to be on the court to start the game. We say that Favors does not have enough offense but what team out there has 5 legit scoters at every position starting!? Almost all teams that are playoff teams have a good 6th man. Because they may not be good at defense so they stick e defender in the starting lineup to be the energizer. That is what Favors does. Heck that is even what Evans does!
Totally agree Steve. Our bench could be scary good this year. We still have to temper our excitement a bit though, it is only preseason.
@ Dallan I agree! Big Al and Millsap are a terrible defensive tandem. Put Favors next to Al and Kanter next to Millsap and see what happens. My guess is we’d see a much more consistent defensive team.
@dallan, i absolutely agree with that. We definitely missed Favors defensive presence. His defensive DESIRE is irreplacable,also his size and length as well. And you are absolutely right that it would bring more balance on offense, which i think would benefit Hayward more than anyone.
@AG you are right as well, it is just preseason, we can throw out the 4 previous games… but if you watched the game last night, it was a little more than just a preseason game. It was a really good game to watch.
I agree. Last night was as close to a regular season atmosphere as you can get in the regular season. I was impressed at how our second unit fought back and almost won the game. Our bench has definitely been a lot more effective than the teams we’ve played this season. Once our starters get it together the Jazz will be tough to deal with.