With the Utah Jazz going into Game 4 already down 3-0 in
their series with the San Antonio Spurs, there doesn’t seem to be any hope of
salvaging this series. No team has won a series after losing the first three
games and the Jazz aren’t in any danger of changing that statistic.
Utah hasn’t even been able to keep the score close. All three
losses have been by 10 points or more but the biggest mistake made by head
coach Tyrone Corbin was letting point guard Devin Harris play passively during
the first two games of the series.
Corbin charged Harris to be more aggressive in Game 3 and he
did. Harris was amazing scoring 21 points while adding five assists on the
night. Sadly none of his teammates stepped up to give him any help.
The Jazz still didn’t do much defensively allowing the Spurs
to shoot 49% from the field. Tony Parker had his most turnovers of the series
but still lit the Jazz up for 27 points on 10 of 17 shooting.
While the Jazz are pretty much done for the series, they may
have found the formula to at least steal a game and avoid being swept if they
can get another big performance out of Harris in Game 4. They must give Harris
help on the defensive side of the ball though because he can’t handle Parker on
his own.
Parker is the one that makes the Spurs offense go so if the
Jazz can crowd him and still guard the paint against easy scores then they may
have a chance to give their deserving fans a win on their own floor. Now if only
that were as easy to do as it sounds.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
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If this writer knew anything about Utah Jazz basketball he would know that Devin Harris is the weakest defender on the roster and unfortunately he has to guard the Spurs best offensive player and he is just not up to the challenge. Harris' lack of performance has nothing to do with Coach Corbin's inability to motivate...
ReplyDeleteWhat does him being a weak defender have to do with double-teaming Parker or switching him off to somebody else? I've watched Harris since his days with the Mavs so I know he's limited defensively but there are other options. The Mavs have a roster full of poor defenders, they at least try to throw a zone at people to slow them down. Corbin has to do a better job at giving Parker different looks. Throw different stuff at Parker until he finds something that works.
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