Sunday, May 6, 2012

Utah Jazz should have unleashed Devin Harris sooner


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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2 comments:

  1. 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...

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    1. What 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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