Unheard of since the arrival of Will Hardy on the Jazz bench. When the franchise moved from Salt Lake City to Portland, its team had a lead of up to 46 points in the fourth quarter.
The Jazz finally “settled” for a 42-point victory (99-141) to erase a series of five losses in a row, including the last by 27 units on the Thunder floor.
“ It’s a great collective victory from start to finish. I hope the guys are feeling good. They continue to work hard, to stick together. We had difficult times, and they are coping. I hope they enjoy tonight, because they played very, very hard “, can congratulate Will Hardy.
A toughness visible on several levels, starting with the battle for rebounds largely won by his team (61 to 34!), or the 11 blocks recorded, including 5 for Walker Kessler alone. The latter signed a huge performance with his 13 points and 17 rebounds, half of the rebounds captured by the entire opposing team.
Nine players with 11 points or more!
“ Walker, in particular, has been very active under the rim. Other guys have contributed, maybe he's also the beneficiary of some of these actions, but Walker continues to find ways to impact the game outside of the systems called for him, which doesn't doesn't happen very often », notes his coach, according to whom his aggressiveness in the circle from the start set the tone for the future.
At the end of the first quarter, the visitors already had almost twice as many points as their opponents (17-33). At the break, the gap had grown a little more (44-67), and would continue to do so.
All the players mobilized along the way scored at least 5 points. And no less than 9 of them finished with 11 points or more. Unheard of in the history of Jazz. With his 22 points, Johnny Juzang overtook John Collins (20) among the top scorers for a team boosted by such a victory.
Have higher demands
“ Their growth and development does not depend on the score. I have to coach them if we lead by 30 points, if we trail by 30 points or when it's close. They're trying to get into habits and I can't fall into the trap of 'Oh, everything's fine tonight, let's all move on from things and say it's okay' », warns their coach.
Will Hardy does not want to spoil the fun of his troops, but only reminds us that it is only a match, and what's more, against a team that only has a few more victories.
“ I want them to set higher standards for themselves. I try to help them improve. And it's not a timeout error. If you see something happening multiple times, you need to talk about it. If we fail to correct ourselves at the time, we take a time-out and talk about it. », finishes the coach.
