Tonight answers whether the Jazz can make Memphis play in the half court. The Grizzlies beat us 23-9 in fast-break points in the opener, and three games in, the open floor is a bigger problem than the one we spent last week yelling about.
That one was possessions. After the 123-103 loss in Memphis, Will Hardy told reporters, per KSL's Chandler Holt on X: "It's a pretty ugly game. The possession game is huge." He had a point. Memphis took 93 shots to our 75 and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to our 5, and our opener recap put the loss right there.
On Sunday we fixed it and lost anyway. Against the Lakers we took 95 shots to their 82, won the offensive glass 20-5 and scored 34 second-chance points to their 11. Then the Lakers went 20-of-47 from three to our 10-of-35. That's a 30-point gap from deep, and it's the biggest reason we lost 132-123.
Three games, 53-20 on the break
Opponents have outscored us 53-20 in fast-break points: 23-9 in Memphis, 12-7 against New Orleans and 18-4 on Sunday. The Lakers beat us with shooting. Memphis didn't need to. The Grizzlies went 13-of-34 from three in the opener, two more makes than our 11-of-32, and won by 20 anyway, on the break and on the glass.
Most of the postgame talk was the whistle and whether Darryn Peterson should start. When fans did get to the open floor, they blamed the turnovers. "Need to clean up the turnovers and allowing points off turnovers," one r/UtahJazz commenter wrote in the postgame thread. That's fair for Sunday, when the Lakers won that count 22-16. Over three games, though, we lead points off turnovers 62-53.
The box score doesn't say how each fast break started. We're winning the turnover math, so the leak is getting back after misses and long rebounds. Sunday's 20 offensive rebounds put a lot of bodies under the other team's basket, and Ace Bailey had six of them. We'd keep sending him. Somebody else has to turn and sprint the second the shot goes up.
Memphis runs and crashes
The opener wasn't a one-off. Memphis beat Golden State 18-3 on the break Friday in a 111-108 win, so the Grizzlies were 41-12 in fast-break points in their first two games.
Sacramento didn't let them run. Memphis had 10 fast-break points to the Kings' 16 on Sunday night and won 123-112 anyway, without Zach Edey, who sat out to manage his left ankle. The crashing never stopped: 18 offensive rebounds and 30 second-chance points to Sacramento's 21. That's 51 offensive rebounds in three games, 15 of them against us. In the opener they also won the paint 58-46 and second-chance points 17-6. The Kings showed the break can be shut off. Do that tonight and Memphis still has the glass, which nobody has taken away from it yet.
Edey told the Memphis Flyer after the Warriors game what they're going for: "You get in the game like that, make it grimy, get rebounds, control the possessions, get stops. That's kind of how we want to play."
There's an opening, though. Memphis turned it over 25 times in San Francisco, and over three games points off turnovers is the one count we're winning, even after losing it Sunday. When Keyonte George and Peterson get a gift, they should make the Grizzlies pay for it. Then all five have to get back anyway.
Two tired teams
Both teams are on the second night of a back-to-back. We played the Lakers at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Delta Center. Memphis played in Sacramento on Sunday night and had to travel to Salt Lake City for this one. Tired legs get back slower, and the team that tipped at 3 p.m. and never left town should be the fresher one.
The official NBA injury report at 10:15 a.m. ET (8:15 a.m. MDT) Monday didn't have either team's list in yet. As of ESPN's list at 8:22 a.m. MDT, which isn't the official report, Trey Alexander (left knee bone bruise) and Jusuf Nurkić (right foot) are out for us. Edey (left ankle) and Karim López (right knee bone bruise) are day-to-day after both sat Sunday. Check the official report before tip.
Tip is 7 p.m. MT at the Delta Center, on KJZZ and KSL 97.5 FM (schedule). We're 1-2. Memphis is 3-0 and leads the season series 1-0.
Our pick
Jazz 117, Grizzlies 112. Yes, that's the same score we picked in Memphis, and that one got an F. We're running it back at home against a team on a road back-to-back whose center is day-to-day, though Sacramento showed the Grizzlies can win the glass without him. We scored 120 and 123 in our two home games. If we can keep Memphis in the half court and finish our defensive possessions with a rebound, the scoring will be there.
The number we'll check in the recap is Memphis's fast-break points. Fifteen or fewer and we like our chances.
What would make us wrong: Memphis getting past 20 on the break again, or winning the offensive glass by ten the way it did last Wednesday. Either one and it's the same loss twice.
Take note.
Sources: NBA.com box scores for Jazz-Grizzlies, Pelicans-Jazz, Lakers-Jazz, Grizzlies-Warriors and Grizzlies-Kings for scores, shots, rebounds, turnovers, paint, second-chance, fast-break points and points off turnovers; Chandler Holt (KSL) on X for Hardy's postgame quote; the Memphis Flyer for Edey's quote; the official NBA injury report of 10:15 a.m. ET Monday and ESPN injuries, read at 8:22 a.m. MDT Monday; NBA.com schedule for tip time and broadcasts; r/UtahJazz postgame thread.