The Memphis Grizzlies hold off the San Antonio Spurs to even things up on the road trip. Final Score Grizz 118 – Spurs 110. Big news for the Grizzlies up and coming start Ja Morant today as he was named a Western Conference All-Star Starter. David and Isaac look at the win in Texas and later they are joined by special guest Sarah Todd to look ahead to Friday’s matchup against the Jazz.

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2018-2019 Record                 Home Record               Road Record

        50-32                                     29-12                            21-20

2019-2020 Record                 Home Record               Road Record

         41-23                                     21-10                            20-13

Fun Facts for the season

-The transition to the Jazz did not bode well for Mike Conley in his first season with a new team. Outside of an injury-riddled 2017-18 campaign that limited him to 12 games, Conley had his worst fantasy season since his rookie campaign as he saw most of his stats fall well below his career marks: -3.8 minutes, -1.0 points, +0.2 rebounds, -1.4 assists, -0.6 steals, -.034 field goal percentage, -.023 free throw shooting. There were not many players who disappointed as greatly as Conley did this season as he finished with 14th/16th round per game value after having an ADP in the 5th round (according to Yahoo!).

-Although Conley disappointed in his first year with the Jazz, he also negatively affected the value of Joe Ingles. Ingles enjoyed two seasons inside the top-100 in 8/9-cat leagues prior to 2019-20, when he finished outside the top-120. When Conley was sidelined with a hamstring injury in December, Joe Ingles saw his value surge as he returned 4th/4th round per game value during a 20-game stretch.

-Donovan Mitchell has been extremely consistent in his first three seasons in the league and his fantasy value reflects that as he has never finished higher than the 42nd ranked player in per-game value and no lower than the 56th ranked player in per-game value (8/9-cat formats).

-Despite leading their team in fantasy value for the last three seasons, both Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell underperformed their ADP (according to Yahoo!) by about a round and a half of value.

-In addition to Mike Conley, the Jazz also brought in Bojan Bogdanović in the offseason and he continued to show how he can help fantasy rosters as an extremely durable (Bogdanović has played in 492 of 505 regular and postseason games: 97%) and efficient scorer who doesn’t contribute much else on the stat sheet. Despite averaging 20.2 points on .447 from the field and .903 from the free throw line, Bojan was on pace to finish with 7th/8th round per game value due to his inability to get defensive stats (0.6 combined steals and blocks) and his poor rebounding and assist numbers (4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists).

-Tony Bradley is someone to keep an eye on as he has excelled in an extremely limited sample size. In two starts (the team was without Gobert), Bradley averaged 11 points, 10 rebounds, one assist and two blocks on .833 shooting in 22.6 mpg. Although he will likely continue to be buried on the bench in Utah, Bradley is a name to add to watch lists in case he finds himself a larger opportunity.

For a closer look at how the season has gone, be sure to check out our Season So Far series. The Jazz entry can be found right here.

Rosterable in 12-team 8/9-cat leagues (per-game value)

-Rudy Gobert (4th round/3rd round)

-Donovan Mitchell (4th round/4th round)

-Bojan Bogdanović (7th round/8th round)

-Joe Ingles (11th round/12th round)

-Jordan Clarkson (13th round/12th round)

Showed flashes of fantasy value in 12-team 8/9-cat leagues (per-game value)

-Mike Conley (7th round/8th round since Feb 1)

Rosterable in standard points leagues

(This is Yahoo’s standard scoring system, we’ll be using them as a reference for the rankings but obviously things will be different in your league if you use a custom scoring format or play on ESPN/CBS/Fantrax)

-Rudy Gobert (3rd round)

-Donovan Mitchell (4th round)

-Bojan Bogdanović (8th round)

-Joe Ingles (9th round)

-Mike Conley (10th round)

Flashes of value in standard points leagues:

-Royce O’Neale (10th round since Feb 12)

Predicting standard league relevant players for 2020-21 season

-Rudy Gobert (all formats)

-Donovan Mitchell (all formats)

-Bojan Bogdanović (all formats)

-Mike Conley (all formats)

-Joe Ingles (points leagues)

Potential for standard league value for 2020-21 season

-Joe Ingles (8/9-cat)

-Jordan Clarkson (all formats)

Upcoming Notable Free Agents

-Jordan Clarkson (unrestricted)

-Emmanuel Mudiay (unrestricted)

-Georges Niang (team option of $1.78M in 2020-21)

Key Additions

-Jordan Clarkson (acquired via trade)

Key Departures

-Dante Exum (traded to Cavs)

-Jeff Green (waived)

Upcoming Draft Picks

-2020 first round pick

-2021 first round pick (protected 1-7 and 15-30, 8-14 to Memphis; if unconveyed becomes top-6 protected in 2022 and 7-30 to Memphis; if unconveyed becomes top-3 protected in 2023 and 4-30 to Memphis; if unconveyed becomes top-1 protected in 2024 and 2-30 to Memphis)

-2021 second round pick (via Golden State)

-2022 first round pick

-2022 second round pick

Then last season they bounced right back up to 50 wins and finished fifth in the Western Conference for the third straight year. At that point, with Gobert fully developed into a stifling rim protector with two Defensive Player of the Year honors notched into his belt and Mitchell taking another step forward as the primary offensive threat, the Jazz had the justification to take some big swings to compete with the big dogs in the league.

There were a couple issues worth addressing in the 2019 offseason. This roster was elite defensively, spearheaded by Gobert’s rim protection, but was just average on the other side of the ball and the lack of scoring punch was painfully apparent in a quick exit at the hands of James Harden’s Rockets. They needed more scoring and more spacing to keep up offensively in the modern NBA. This meant Derrick Favors was the easy option to move with his expiring deal. He had been workmanlike over eight-plus seasons in Utah but it was clear that there was a cap to how much offense could develop with two guys who struggled to contribute outside of 15 feet. Moving that expiring deal cleared up space to sign Bojan Bogdanovic to a hefty contract.

The next splash had to be in the trade market. The reality has been that Salt Lake City will never attract the same level of talent as a small market in an unfair game. For this splash, the Jazz looked to upgrade at the point guard spot. Ricky Rubio had evolved into a perfectly serviceable pass-first point guard who really played well off of Mitchell but there was always going to be a ceiling on a team with these pieces and no solution to the spacing conundrum due to Rubio’s inconsistent shooting.

Mike Conley was brought in using a five-asset package to provide the jolt and push the Jazz into the upper crust of contention. Conley was coming off a career year as a scorer (21.1 points per game) for a young Grizzlies team that was due for a rebuild after years of moderate success in the Grit and Grind era. The Jazz were poised and ready to challenge the improving Nuggets for the division title and had as realistic a shot as any to be top-four seeds in the Conference.

Will the Real Mike Conley Please Stand Up?

On paper, the Conley move made tons of sense. It was a clear upgrade, a veteran presence, an underrated locker room character guy, and a damn good basketball player who probably deserved more credit than he got for his loyalty and production in the Grizzlies organization. He came to Utah with a new opportunity to play winning basketball and sport a new horrendous hairstyle. The first game as a member of the Jazz was a night Conley would rather forget, a 1-16 shooting night that was easily a career low point. At that point, it was just a blip. We thought he would bounce back and be fine. After all, this was a steady consistent producer who had been a reliable producer for more than a decade. There were some injuries along the way but nothing catastrophic outside of the 2017-18 Achilles injury that knocked him out for all but 12 uninspiring games.

The poor performances piled up and Conley just couldn’t get going. Then came the hamstring injury. On December 2nd Conley hurt his hamstring and hit the shelf for five games before coming back for one game… only to injure his hamstring again and sit out for an additional 14 games. Before this injured stretch that limited him to one appearance in over five weeks, he was sitting as the 208th player in 9-category leagues with a horrible (by his standards) 13.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists and just 0.7 steals on an unpalatable 36.9% shooting clip. It was an incredibly poor run for a player who had been a top-30 fantasy asset in his last two healthy seasons and was drafted as such in a good situation on a strong team. The Jazz continued to perform without him and were comfortably a playoff team without any help from their big-money acquisition.

Conley returned on January 18th and was handled with kid gloves through the end of January, playing less than 20 minutes per contest. At this point, returning value was almost impossible but at least from the start of February to the league pause, Conley’s shot improved and he was the 86th-ranked player. The steals didn’t tick back up to the numbers we’re used to, but he was more representative of the 2015-16 version of Conley who played third fiddle behind Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph in Memphis but was a solid, mistake-averse floor general on a good team. At this point with Donovan Mitchell handing the ball and Bojan Bogdanovic as a secondary scorer on this team, an aging Mike Conley is probably more suited to that role as a top-50 asset instead of the top-30 we hoped for.

Bogey… Breakout?

On November 8th in the ninth game of the young season against a juggernaut Bucks team, Bojan Bogdanovic announced himself as a force with a buzzer-beating triple to cap off a 33-point masterclass. It was a harbinger of a career-best scoring season for Bojan in his first season as a Jazzerciser. This organization is never one to make the splashiest move but they are well established as a smart group that gets more than advertised out of their players. Bogdanovic was inked to an under-the-radar four-year, $73 million deal in the free agency frenzy as what the Jazz hoped would be a third offensive option as a swing man. He turned into the clear second guy because of Conley’s disappearing act and was a catalyst for an otherwise limited offense.

It’s not a perfect analog to Gordon Hayward, who was a much better all-around playmaker and two-way asset than Bojan can ever dream to be, but this team is lacking another scoring option when Donovan Mitchell struggles and being able to have a guy who doesn’t look like he can get his own shot find ways to create offense for himself is valuable when the game slows down and the lights get brighter. The Jazz are well set with this iteration of Bogdanovic as a key contributor to a contending team, but whether that would be enough to compete in June is another question.

However, on the fantasy side… maybe it wasn’t everything we dreamed of. The high praise for being a better real-life asset didn’t translate as much as expected. The bump due to landing spot was obvious and the industry pushed Bojan well into the top-100 based on last season’s 93rd overall finish. This season the points bumped from 14.3 in 2017-18 to 18.0 in his final season in Indianapolis to this career mark of 20.2 points per game. With the scoring and 3-pointer bump (2.0 to 3.0) came the sacrifice of any semblance of a defensive game (down to 0.5 steals and no blocks), an increase in turnovers due to the higher usage and a subsequent five percent drop in shooting percentage. What’s more, the last couple months of the season really pushed down Bojan’s hot start, where he was well outside the top-100 on a per-game basis over the last 25 games of the truncated season.

Bogdanovic has some holes in his fantasy game because of his propensity for the outside shot putting him at risk for low shooting percentages and lack of defensive ability, but this is a very similar profile to a player like a more offensively creative JJ Redick who generally maintains good percentages given his playing style, doesn’t do a ton outside of efficient scoring but would be sorely missed if he wasn’t there, both for the Jazz and fantasy squads.

Where is the Help, Mate?

In seasons past the Jazz have gotten high level production, at least from a fantasy side, from players like Joe Ingles, Derrick Favors and Ricky Rubio. Favors and Rubio have moved on to different clubs and Ingles looks like he’s moved back to Australia at times this season because no one can find him on the court. There’s only so much that a limited offensive player in Royce O’Neale can do to keep the tempo of the game when shots aren’t falling. Still, O’Neale was the one piece of the supporting cast that was pulling his weight all season. Clearly the front office felt the same, awarding him a four-year extension worth $36 million. O’Neale is a fan favorite who is very popular in Salt Lake City but no one outside of Utah has ever heard of this undrafted player out of Baylor who spent two seasons overseas before signing with the Jazz.

The supporting cast (specifically bench) issue was such a problem that as of December 23rd the Jazz bench was averaging just 27.1 points per game, good for the second-worst mark in the league, ahead of only the Houston Rockets. Unfortunately for Utah, there’s no one on this roster with the scoring prowess of James Harden or perhaps even Russell Westbrook. December 23rd marked the acquisition of Jordan Clarkson from the Cleveland Cavaliers for failed project prospect Dante Exum (who struggled with injuries, then poor outcomes, then “Donovan Mitchell is better than you” syndrome) to ignite the Jazz bench. Clarkson at the very least did that, continuing his famous “Clarkson” outings where he provided scoring at a reasonable efficiency and forgot to do anything else. The Jazz got their scoring spark and did look like a more well-rounded unit.

Ingles started to play better after the “facilitate the second unit” approach largely failed and he shifted back to being a regular starter. Of course, most of the vintage Ingles came during Mike Conley’s absence. The (almost) 20 games without Mike Conley were huge for rescuing Smokin’ Joe’s value as he smoked 3.2 triples and scored 15.6 points per contest en route to top-40 output. Before the injury? Ingles was 143rd overall. After Conley’s return? An even worse 219th overall. It’s hard to swallow for fantasy owners who drafted Ingles regularly above his teammate and fellow Menards coworker Bojan Bogdanovic.

It’s hard to get excited about a support group that wasn’t able to step up into more production even with the growing pains we saw from this roster throughout a still fairly successful season. Every one of the fantasy-relevant producers on this team outside of Royce O’Neale, who is a deep-league darling on minute volume alone, underperformed their draft-day outlook. Let’s swing through fantasy-drafted Utah Jazz players and their current ranking compared to their average ADP on ESPN and Yahoo! (from Fantasypros):

Player (ADP/Ranking)

Rudy Gobert (16.5/36)

Donovan Mitchell (30/48)

Mike Conley (55.5/186)

Joe Ingles (84.5/143)

Bojan Bogdanovic (88/96)

Jordan Clarkson (141/144)

Ed Davis (162/396)

Let that sink in. The only player who contributed value above their ADP across the entire stretch of the season was a waiver-wire pickup (O’Neale) who sits at 165th overall. That’s on the cusp of streamer status in standard leagues for a player who has a very non-streamable skillset without any standout fantasy abilities. The Jazz have some work to do shoring up the supporting cast if they want to really compete with the true elites.

Donovan Mitchell’s Next Gear

We’ve learned that Donovan Mitchell is an All-Star scorer and one of the most exciting players in our league. We’ve also learned that the shiny new toy gets so much buzz that all the equity gets sucked out before we can even get excited. It’s not that Mitchell isn’t an incredible player with room to grow. He is, and that’s where it’s complicated.

When Mitchell is a top-30 draft pick, he has to hit every benchmark to return value. It’s the same issue we’ve seen with Devin Booker, who has similar concerns. Booker is a better scorer and a worse defender, but in very similar fashion, there are question marks about the shooting efficiency and the turnovers. When the shot is falling, both of these guys are fantasy stars who can heat check with anybody and facilitate better than they get credit for. When the shot doesn’t fall like it didn’t for Mitchell in the month of March (17.8 points per game on 38.3% shooting) he can fall into mid-round value or later (He was ranked 100th for the month of March).

Again, we’re not solely trying to throw a wet blanket on the hype and excitement that is Donovan Mitchell, it’s just important to temper expectations and take the development we see in stride. Mitchell’s first three seasons from a 9-category fantasy perspective: 54th, 56th and 48th. If he remains a top-30 pick and doesn’t improve other facets of his game in concert with his scoring improvements, he can’t return his draft-day value. That’s just math.

He’s becoming a better, more efficient scorer, but this season that came at the cost of half a steal per game. If Mitchell trades something back for the added ticks in shooting percentages, we just break even right back where we were. This concept is a lesson around the league for our fantasy game. When we play category leagues, every category matters the same as the next. Scorers score. There’s a reason we love the strategy and calculus involved in building rosters. Maybe the scoring and efficiency gains were enough to flip categories and on the other side, maybe the loss in defensive counters was enough to push things the other way. The moral of the story: always double-check the math. A highlight reel dunk and an elbow jumper both count for two points, don’t always get sucked in by the awe factor.

Is the Locker Room Broken?

Regardless of the talent on this team and their status as a competitor in the Western Conference, the main question that will decide the fate of this organization in the upcoming years is the state of this locker room. It’s no secret that Rudy Gobert’s nonchalance in the face of a global pandemic where he became the NBA’s Patient Zero (at least publicly) almost immediately after making light of the crisis made him public enemy number one. When the NBA resumes, Rudy’s reception is bound to be tepid at best.

It’s also no secret that Mitchell, the other building block for this organization (and another player who contracted COVID-19, presumably from Gobert) expressed significant disdain for how Gobert handled the COVID-19 threat. This is a step away from the fantasy angle and a moment to dissect the state of the most critical relationship on this roster. If this professional relationship is truly not salvageable, how do the Jazz proceed? Both players are free agents after the 2020-21 season, with Mitchell being of the restricted variety. We would have to assume that the Jazz would be foolish not to match any offer that gets made to Mitchell. Does that mean that Gobert won’t stick around? Would he have stuck around if it hadn’t been for the building animosity and now the Jazz will be more motivated to let Gobert walk or move him via trade in the offseason?

This is the most public divide in the locker room right now. We’ve heard that there are some attempts being made to repair the relationship between the two stars but we’ll have to see if there ends up being a schism throughout the entire locker room, where Mitchell has guys in his corner and Gobert has guys in his. Of any team, the Jazz seem most likely to be affected from a roster angle due to the backlash from COVID-19. Hopefully for the sake of their competitive window, Mitchell and Gobert can work through their differences and compete for the Northwest division crown again next season.

The pricy acquisitions of Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic have required the Jazz to approach all moves as a team whose best opportunity is in the present. Those decisions were meant to crank Utah’s title contending window wide open and have forced the team to stay aggressive in making the most of it.

Monday’s trade of Dante Exum and two second-rounders for Jordan Clarkson is a small but necessary step in the Jazz finding a way to hit their theoretical ceiling. While the waiving of Jeff Green is a hopeful case of addition by subtraction, both moves are focused on solving a clear and obvious problem.

The summertime moves haven’t had a negative impact on the Jazz defense. They’ve fallen from second to 10^th in the league in defensive rating, though that’s more to do with other teams getting better considering Utah’s at 105.5 this year after posting a 105.3 mark last year. Offensively, it’s another story. The Jazz sit 21^st with a 106.8 offensive rating (they were 14^th at 110.3 last year), which has left them in mediocre territory with a net rating of plus-1.3, good for 12^th overall in a league where 14 teams are in the positives.

More pressingly, Utah’s bench has been atrocious. The Jazz are 29^th in the league with 26.9 bench points per game, and their reserves are 17^th in the league with a 3-point percentage of 33.8. Last season Utah was 15^th in bench scoring (36.7 points per game) and third in 3-point percentage at 36.3 percent. The Jazz lost Kyle Korver and the move from bench to starter for Royce O’Neale has gutted the team’s bench shooting capabilities.

Adding Clarkson will go a long way to helping either front, as the 27-year-old combo guard is averaging 14.6 points and shooting .371 from deep on the year. He is only a .338 career 3-point shooter so some regression may be in order, but either way Clarkson gives the Jazz a more reliable scorer to buoy a second unit that has, to this point, relied on Green, Joe Ingles (who has recently been plugged back in as a starter with Conley out), Emmanuel Mudiay, Georges Niang and Ed Davis.

It will take Clarkson time to acclimate to the system after spending some time in the basketball wilderness of post-LeBron Cleveland, but he fills a major need. More broadly, Clarkson also gives the Jazz some bankable adequacy that they might not have been able to find elsewhere on the bench, and he can even play up with the starters on nights where he’s feeling it.

Boosting the bench in any way had to be a major priority with three Jazz averaging over 33.5 mpg so far this year and three others at 29.3 and above, with the seventh man (Green) way in the rear view at 18.4. It’s a heavy toll in a race that’s a true marathon, especially if the Jazz have eyes on some kind of homecourt advantage come playoff time.

As for Green, it’s tough to say that he was anything more or less than advertised. He was able to provide Utah with serviceable minutes, though the team’s offense cratered when he was on the floor to the tune of a 100.2 offensive rating. His .327 conversion rate from 3-point territory was tough to manage with the rest of the bench’s lack of firepower. The Jazz shouldn’t have expected different from a player who had shot better than .315 from deep just once in his previous four seasons.

Reshuffling the deck at power forward should lead to more minutes for Niang, who is averaging 4.5 points and shooting .415 from three in 11.8 minutes per contest so far, as well as additional run for more offensively inclined players like Ingles, O’Neale and Clarkson.

With Green’s roster spot, the Jazz inked Rayjon Tucker to a guaranteed deal. Tucker impressed at the G League showcase and is averaging 23.3 points (and shooting .386 from deep) with the Wisconsin Herd this season. That should bolster the second unit’s offense even more.

Even though Conley’s left hamstring injury has further burdened the team’s depth, these problems shouldn’t have come as a major surprise. The Jazz lost some significant offensive contributions up front, where the departures of Derrick Favors and Jae Crowder left a huge hole at both the backup power forward and center spots. That was the tradeoff that Utah chose in pursuing Conley and Bogdanovic, though the extent of the bench woes has surpassed even the most pessimistic predictions. Clarkson and Tucker should help rectify that to some extent but there are still plenty of questions to answer.

When Conley does return, either Ingles or O’Neale will return to the bench. Can Ingles ride his current run of strong play into a new role or will he return to his early season struggles? Can Niang keep it up as the sample size grows? Can the new bench defend or rebound well enough to truly work?

The Jazz pushed their chips to the center in the summer, and there’s no turning back now. This week’s flurry of moves may not be a cure-all, but the organization had no choice but to make them.

On paper it’s an excellent fit, as Conley gives the Jazz more balance on the offensive end given his ability to toggle between scoring and facilitating mode. In a system that asks its point guard to shoot threes from above the break, Conley, a career .375 shooter from distant, is an immense upgrade over Ricky Rubio (career .323), who is always looking to distribute rather than take open jumpers.

The early results have been less than spectacular, with Conley openly talking about nerves after a dreadful start to the season in which he shot 4-of-27 from the field over his first two contests. Averages of 14.4 points (.365 shooting), 2.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 0.9 steals, 2.2 threes and 2.8 turnovers leave a lot to be desired, with the scoring in particular standing out. If that were to keep up all year (which it won’t) it would mark Conley’s lowest scoring output since his third year in the league.

While it’s been a tough start, perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. One of the league’s most underrated guards moving from a defense-first organization to a defense-first organization doesn’t necessarily sound like something that will result in a major adjustment, but that ignores the specifics of Utah’s roster.

When you look at the teams that Conley ran in Memphis, you might not be able to find a more different collection of personnel than the 2019-20 Jazz.

At the center position, the Grizzlies leaned heavily on Marc Gasol. Like Conley’s current center Rudy Gobert, Gasol was a Defensive Player of the Year and an elite presence in the middle. That might be where the comparisons end, however.

Gasol relied on his smarts and savvy on both ends of the floor and eventually became an effective floor-spacer and outstanding playmaker, serving as an offensive hub to complement Conley’s driving abilities. Most importantly, Gasol was hardly a lob threat. The ground-bound big man was more liable to swing a pass to an open shooter than he was to thunder down the lane for an alley-oop.

Gobert, meanwhile, is almost the polar opposite. There’s not even a real post game to rely on, as Gobert’s offensive utility is limited to good screens and sprints to the rim, where his ridiculous length allows him to sky for lobs. That’s a major adjustment for a guard whose primary roll man used to function as equal parts scoring threat and release valve.

Last season Gobert took 124 shots off of lobs, good for 1.53 per game. This season, he has taken 12 such shots through nine games, a minor decrease to 1.33 per game. Some of that’s chalked up to Gobert simply seeing fewer touches (he’s receiving about three fewer passes per game so far this season), but he’s only shooting .421 off passes (2.1 attempts, 9.3 passes per game) from Conley this year as opposed to .532 from Rubio a season ago (2.3 attempts, 9.7 passes). There’s some small sample fishiness at play, yes, but it speaks to the idea that Conley hasn’t quite found the sweet spot with one of his most important new teammates.

If there is a starker difference in Conley’s teammates than the center spot, it might come at shooting guard, where Conley is now playing with a potential superstar in Donovan Mitchell. Beyond the need for Conley to adapt to more of an off-ball role, the stylistic shift is massive. Conley’s Memphis career saw him play alongside shooting guards like OJ Mayo, Tony Allen, Courtney Lee, Garrett Temple, Dillon Brooks and late-career Vince Carter – players who fit in the Grizzlies’ build but never anyone who could command the ball or take over a game like Mitchell.

At small forward it’s a similar story, as the Jazz have a tremendous pair of wings in Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles. After spending his Memphis days playing alongside prime Rudy Gay, Chandler Parsons, Tayshaun Prince and Matt Barnes, among others, he’s finally sharing the floor with a pair of knockdown 3-point shooters and a capable secondary playmaker in Ingles.

While Gay offered more scoring punch than either, he also went about his business in an extremely different fashion. Conley’s never had the luxury of a real spot-up threat that can change the geometry of the floor, let alone two. If we could figure out time travel, either Bogdanovic or Ingles would’ve been a fantastic fit with those Memphis teams.

The Grit and Grind Grizzlies lined up Zach Randolph at the power forward spot, and his plodding, bully-ball brand of game is no longer in fashion. After Randolph’s decline began, Memphis turned to pre-3-point-shooting JaMychal Green. The changes in Gasol’s game allowed them to trot out a heavier group, but that’s not the case in Utah. The Jazz can run super small with Bogdanovic or Ingles at the four in certain lineups but have otherwise deployed Royce O’Neale and Jeff Green at the four. Though Conley does have experience playing with Green briefly, in Utah that spot isn’t looked to for methodical scoring so much as it is defensive versatility and spacing.

Mix in all the off-court factors that come with uprooting your life and leaving a city where you’ve spent the last 12 years and it’s understandable that Conley would scuffle out of the gates.

Already, he’s starting to get back in the swing of things with 15-plus points in three straight. And even though his personal have stats suffered, Conley is rolling along with a sterling 99.0 defensive rating and a plus-5.8 net rating.

It’s never wise to overreact to poor starts from players of Conley’s quality, but the beginning of his Jazz tenure should serve as a cautionary reminder that talented players don’t just figure it out from the jump. Things take time to coalesce.

Conley should end up as advertised for a Jazz outfit with title aspirations, but the early struggles probably shouldn’t have snuck up on the hoops community as much as they did.

The Warriors’ dynasty is done, the Lakers and Clippers have added major starpower, the Rockets reunited old friends and the Jazz have finally added an elite point guard to the mix. That, and there’s plenty of young teams gunning to assert themselves, ranging from current contenders like Denver to up-and-comers like Sacramento and Dallas. Despite all the player movemnt this summer, the West reigns supreme in terms of quality and it figures to be a dogfight as teams jockey for playoff spots, let alone seeding.

True superteams may be gone for the moment but there are more than enough dynamic duos to tide us over in a season that figures to be pretty unpredictable.

Dallas Mavericks

Fifth and final starter

Delon Wright, Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis and Dwight Powell appear to be locked in as four of the Mavs’ starters. The versatility of that group means that Dallas can go in a couple of different directions with the last starting spot.

If Doncic ends up playing shooting guard the Mavs have a few intriguing small forward options. Justin Jackson got the nod in the team’s first preseason game, but he’s never really emerged as an impact player despite providing passable, invisible minutes. Rick Carlisle favorite Dorian Finney-Smith has held down the starting role in the past but the Mavs may want to maximize his utility as a do-it-all bench option.

If shooting guard is the open spot and Doncic starts at the three, Tim Hardaway Jr., who is recovering from another stress reaction in his left leg, might be the choice. He would also be a valuable primary scorer for a second unit, however, and might not have the defensive chops to fill a complementary 3-and-D role alongside high-usage stars as a starter. Seth Curry or Jalen Brunson could start if the Mavs want a two-PG look, and Wright’s defensive versatility would make it a workable situation.

Denver Nuggets

What’s on the table for Will Barton?

This probably isn’t what Will Barton envisioned when he signed a four-year, $53 million contract. Elevated into the starting lineup, Will The Thrill’s 2018-19 season was marred by an early injury and he was unable to find a rhythm on a well-oiled machine of a Nuggets team after returning in the midst of a tight playoff race. That injury, of course, allowed players like Malik Beasley and Torrey Craig to step up and cement themselves as real contributors, which leads us to today.

Craig is rumored to be the favorite to start at small forward and is a nice defensive fit with Denver’s four obvious starters. While the competition is still on, Barton may be used in the super-sub sixth man role that led to his big contract in the first place.

The question for Denver probably lies further in the future – with cheaper alternatives in relative abundance, the Nuggets already over the cap and set to watch Jerami Grant, Beasley, Craig, Juancho Hernangomez and Mason Plumlee hit free agency, how much can they afford to allocate to Barton? Keep an eye on his deployment throughout the exhibition slate. The Nuggets undoubtedly believe in him as a player but there are plenty of other paths for the team to take if Barton can’t recapture his old form.

Golden State Warriors

How do the Warriors reshuffle their defense?

As you might’ve heard, the Warriors will look different this season. Though D’Angelo Russell won’t be a straight replacement for Klay Thompson on offense (something we’ll dig into more closely soon), the big questions come on the defensive side of the floor.

The Klay-Russell swap is a massive downgrade there, but Golden State will also be without Kevin Durant’s endless length and Andre Iguodala’s institutional knowledge. Sacramento soured on Willie Cauley-Stein because of his defensive lapses. A team whose defensive units used to move on a string will be decidedly different this year.

Add in the potential need for Golden State to work rest into Draymond Green’s schedule, and we might see some very funky lineups over the course of the season. Keep an eye on how players like Cauley-Stein, Alfonzo McKinnie and Jacob Evans hang on defense in the preseason, otherwise we might see Steve Kerr engage in some schematic retooling.

Houston Rockets

Do the Rockets have a real bench or just situational contributors?

The Rockets continue to swing big, this time swapping Chris Paul for Russell Westbrook. Although they continue to boast one of the league’s most talented backcourt, one can’t help but wonder whether the depth problem will rear its ugly head once again.

Last season Houston dealt with a number of injuries that left them severely shorthanded in the early going, and although the Westbrook-Paul exchange should generally ensure fewer missed games, the Rockets’ bench isn’t exactly a strength.

The group of Austin Rivers, Gerald Green, Gary Clark, Thabo Sefolosha, Tyson Chandler and Nene has plenty of weak spots. Though their minutes will be limited in the postseason, can the Rockets assemble a cohesive bench unit that can get them through the regular season without leaving the starters overtaxed? It’s easy to think of scenarios where each of those bench players can play an important role, but there aren’t a ton of second-unit groups that you can throw out comfortably in any matchup. Anyone who can turn in a strong preseason might be able to distance themselves from the pack for a team that’s dying for secondary contributors.

LA Clippers

Landry Shamet’s point guard minutes

Doc Rivers has cited Landry Shamet’s past work as a lead guard when discussing the fact that Shamet will play some point guard this season. The uncertainty of Paul George’s timeline means that the Clippers will be down one of their primary ball-handlers for at least the first few games of the year, and that’s not inconsequential on a team with one true point guard.

Lou Williams can handle some of those minutes behind Patrick Beverley but he’s better suited in a scoring role. The Clippers have already been forced to get a little creative, letting rookie Terance Mann play backup point guard in training camp as well as the preseason opener. If Shamet can play a capable PG, that would certainly ease the burden on everyone else. Any value that Shamet provides beyond spacing will count as a major win.

Los Angeles Lakers

What does Dwight Howard have left?

After a nine-game campaign and dwindling on-court effectiveness in the years prior, it’s safe to declare Dwight Howard a completely unknown quantity. The Lakers seem to be going out of their way to replace JaVale McGee after a surprisingly productive season, and the Howard move and reported camp battle is the largest affront in a series of decisions.

If Howard can still play, even in a 20-minute role, and that’s a big ‘if,’ he’ll give the Lakers an athletic rim-runner that provides a big boost on the glass. That’s not inconsequential for a team that had to add the ancient Tyson Chandler last season. If he can’t, it’ll be a lot of unnecessary drama for nothing. It should be interesting to see how Howard is used, and how much he can make of his time on the floor.

Memphis Grizzlies

Can Brandon Clarke force his way in?

Ever since the draft, Brandon Clarke has been impossible to ignore. He was borderline dominant in Summer League and has continued to impress throughout training camp, and the rebuilding Grizzlies have to be overjoyed with his play so far. If there’s one dark cloud on the horizon for Clarke it’s that Memphis has two frontcourt pillars in Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas locked into the starting five.

Although JV may not be a 30-minute per night player, he will start, and he will be a featured offensive player when he is on the floor. That, plus the presence of power forward types in Jae Crowder and Bruno Caboclo, will put playing time pressure on Clarke as he tries to carve out a role. That won’t be a monumental task given Clarke’s play so far and Memphis’ trajectory, but he can start to explore his ceiling quickly with a big preseason.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Robert Covington: Power Forward?

The Wolves are prepared to hand the starting shooting guard job to either Jarrett Culver or Josh Okogie, which will push everyone down a position. Barring a stunning bench demotion for Andrew Wiggins, that means we’re looking at Robert Covington opening the season as Minnesota’s starting power forward.

With the backdrop of Covington’s balky knees, it’s going to be a big challenge for a player who might need to add a little muscle to make it work in every possible matchup. Additionally, that might be suboptimal deployment for a player who has proven to be an All-NBA defender at the wing position. It’s at least a worthy experiment for a team that’s unlikely to make the playoffs while trying to find proper complements for Karl-Anthony Towns.

New Orleans Pelicans

Who loses out on the wings?

There’s an undeniable sense of excitement around the Pelicans this season as David Griffin has done his best to put together a roster that will thrive in an up-tempo attack. Though most of the attention has rightfully fallen to Zion Williamson, New Orleans is facing a bit of a logjam with all of their new acquisitions.

This is Jrue Holiday’s team, which means he’s locked into big minutes split between point guard and shooting guard. With Lonzo Ball in town, he’s likely to start at point guard, with Holiday opening games at the two. That figures to leave J.J. Redick out in the cold, unless the Pelicans opt to go super-small and move Brandon Ingram to the bench. Any way you slice it, someone who is used to starting will be forced to come off the bench. While you’re watching Zion jam on everyone, remember to keep an eye on Alvin Gentry’s rotations.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Andre Roberson

The Thunder have plenty of minutes available on the wings, which means that a healthy Roberson will have a great opportunity to reestablish himself as an elite defender. It has been over a year since he took the court thanks to a devastating injury and multiple setbacks, but his health could have a surprisingly large effect on the bottom half of the playoff bracket.

If the Thunder focus more on development than scrapping for a low playoff spot, Roberson’s presence can still help the team in a number of ways. Perhaps he plays himself into the team’s future plans, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likely to slide back over to point guard as soon as Chris Paul leaves town (if not before). It’s possible that Roberson becomes a sought-after trade target as the arms race develops, with contenders itching to acquire a lockdown defender. Above all else, it’ll just be good to see him back on the court – it’s hard to root against someone so close to the end of an arduous road.

Phoenix Suns

Power forward battle

The Suns and a faint sense of hope: a tradition like no other. Phoenix went out and added a real point guard, as well as one of the top coaches on the market. Forward progress is being made but there remain a lot of questions to be answered about the team’s power forward rotation, and while there are a couple sensible choices there are a few options that would be Classic Suns.

In all likelihood the job will fall to either Dario Saric or Mikal Bridges. Young, talented players with versatility and upside. Perfect! With Kelly Oubre Jr. at small forward, however, it’s going to be a cramped rotation with these three, who would all benefit from extended minutes. That’s all well and good but the Suns also reached on forward Cam Johnson in the first round, and the organization may force him onto the floor to try and prove outsiders wrong. Mix in talk that newcomers Frank Kaminsky and Cheick Diallo could play some power forward as well (with Deandre Ayton and Aron Baynes consuming the entire center rotation), and it quickly becomes a mess.

Saric and Bridges need as much playing time as possible, but will they get it? And who will get the lion’s share? If Saric can take advantage of Bridges’ knee bone bruise, he can right the ship after a rocky campaign split between Philly and Minnesota.

Portland Trail Blazers

Reworking the forward rotation

The Blazers surprised pundits yet again last season, making it all the way to the Western Conference Finals despite losing Jusuf Nurkic amidst an outstanding campaign. While Portland will always carry a chip on its shoulder, it’s tough to see them authoring a repeat performance – even if Hassan Whiteside shows up on his best behavior and blossoms. Though most of the talk is centered on the improvement of other teams, the Blazers have some serious questions to answer at the forward positions.

Between Al-Farouq Aminu, Moe Harkless and Jake Layman, the Blazers will need to fill 70 minutes per game and 167 combined starts, exclusively at small forward and power forward. The addition of Kent Bazemore figures to help, though he has a mixed track record of success as a small forward. In 2015-16, he played 79% of his minutes at SF and was solid with 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 threes per game on .441 from the field and a plus-2.3 net rating.

The following year saw him take a step back with 58% of his minutes coming at SF, as he produced averages of 11.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.7 threes on .409 from the field with a minus-1.7 net rating. Bazemore has primarily been a shooting guard since, only appearing as a small forward in 4% of his minutes last season per Basketball-Reference.

The largely untested Zach Collins is expected to start at power forward, and teams will be targeting him as a perimeter defender early and often. Offensively, his .331 mark from distance falls short of Aminu’s .343 mark, and teams will probably dare him to become a volume 3-point shooter with Whiteside dominating the interior. Behind Collins and Bazemore are Rodney Hood, Mario Hezonja and Anthony Tolliver. Portland will be tested against the West’s all-world collection of small forwards and Terry Stotts might need to get creative.

Sacramento Kings

Trevor Ariza’s playing time

For the second straight season, Ariza has chosen to sign on with a team in the bottom half of the West. Last season you could make the case that he was trying to combine a big paycheck with his playing time needs, but this year looks like the beginning of a steep decline. The Kings have added a couple centers and re-signed Harrison Barnes to start at small forward, and Ariza will not be a threat to Marvin Bagley’s minutes at power forward.

Ariza has not averaged fewer than 33.9 mpg since an injury-plagued 2012-13 season, and was over 32.9 mpg in the three seasons prior to that. Unless Luke Walton shoehorns him into a rotation at the expense of younger players (which has caused rifts with Sacramento’s front office in the past), Ariza is going to have to accept a drastically diminished role. That can be a tough adjustment for a guy who can clearly still handle big minutes, as well as one who may be more of a natural fit at small forward than a higher-paid teammate. Keep an eye on how Walton juggles the forward group.

San Antonio Spurs

Poeltl Power

Jakob Poeltl’s season featured plenty of ups and downs. A training camp battle for the starting center spot didn’t go his way, and he would actually sit out three of the Spurs’ first six games, logging just 54 seconds in one of those appearances. Through the end of January Poeltl averaged 14.7 minutes per game. For a player who was thought of as the sort of cerebral hard worker that would fit the San Antonio system, it was a struggle.

Poeltl was able to gain some traction in the wake of Pau Gasol’s foot injury and subsequent release, averaging 19.7 minutes (and 1.3 blocks per game) from February onwards. Though he may always have trouble defending larger players, Poeltl has great rebounding and rim-protecting instincts and can move in space better than a lot of his peers. If he can hit the ground running this season it would be a big development for the Spurs, and it could even be his ticket to the starting lineup. Last season Poeltl averaged 3.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 0.2 blocks in 17.4 mpg through five preseason contests – let’s see if he can do better this time around.

Utah Jazz

Defensive drop-off?

The Jazz are undoubtedly a title contender after adding Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic to round out what was already a strong core. They’re far more dangerous offensively and now have a number of ways to topple opponents rather than grinding them down on defense and leaning on Donovan Mitchell for scoring. Although Utah will still hang its hat on defense, this offseason did bring some changes that could leave the Jazz somewhat exposed.

That largely occurs at the power forward spot, where an effective thunder and lightning combo of Derrick Favors and Jae Crowder has been replaced by Jeff Green and some miscast players. Beyond Green, the most likely candidates to see meaningful minutes at the four are Royce O’Neale, Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles. Though Basketball-Reference credits Ingles with 66% of his minutes at the four spot last season, Bogdanovic and O’Neale check in at 4% and 2%, respectively. With rumors of Ingles moving to a sixth man role so Bogdanovic can start, that would put a pretty heavy burden on either the 33-year-old Green or a player who has extremely limited experience.

Quin Snyder is one of the league’s top coaches and there are few doubts that the Jazz will get it figured out, but the team’s defense might not be on autopilot this season. The preseason should be illuminating in terms of how that unit will need to adjust.

Houston overcame a stunning third-quarter from Donovan Mitchell to re-take control late, winning Game 5 112-102 to become the first team in basketball to advance to the Conference Finals. Paul, brilliant from the opening tip and at his best when it mattered most, burgeoned his big-game reputation with a playoff career-high 41 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists and zero turnovers on 13-of-22 shooting and 8-of-10 from beyond the arc. Harden, battling an illness, needed 22 shots to score 18 points, but shook off those struggles late to help the Rockets come back from a blown lead in the third quarter. P.J. Tucker, with 19 points, five triples and three blocks, was huge for Houston in a decisive fourth quarter, too. Donovan Mitchell, by the way, is the only reason it mattered at all.

The rookie poured in 22 points of his own and accounted for 29 of Utah’s 32 total points during an awe-inspiring third quarter, turning his team’s eight-point deficit into a three-point lead entering the final stanza. Less than two weeks after eliminating the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 39-point outburst that showed off the breadth of his highlight-reel offensive repertoire, Mitchell tried his damndest to keep Utah’s season alive with spinning drives, scooping finishes and splashed 3-pointers.

LOUD NOISES

Donovan with 17 points and 9 assists.#TakeNote https://t.co/49GJueJMoR

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 9, 2018

Making @ReggieMillerTNT giggle… https://t.co/NR3DLvUa2c

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 9, 2018

.@spidadmitchell CAN'T BE STOPPED!

He finished with 22 PTS in Q3 to help give @utahjazz a 78-75 lead!#NBAPlayoffs | #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/DjJYspFmdv

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 9, 2018

Unfortunately for the Jazz, Paul, vying for his long-awaited first trip to the Conference Finals, just refused to let the Rockets lose. He came around a baseline screen and stepped behind a dribble hand-off for three on Houston’s first possession, and found Tucker for a triple on the next trip down, prompting a timeout by Quin Snyder. Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, Utah’s lead, once up to five, had vanished entirely. That the Jazz nearly got it back with Mitchell in the locker room is a testament to their season-long will in the face adversity.

Mitchell’s debut campaign ended prematurely when he banged knees with Harden with just over seven minutes remaining. The Jazz, at that point down 92-87, closed to within a point of the Rockets on a three by Royce O’Neale, who capped a breakthrough rookie season with 17 points, two and-a-half minutes later. That’s when Paul shut the door on Utah’s season for good. Following the lead of Mitchell, the future Hall of Famer scored 12 of Houston’s final 15 points over the final four minutes and 34 seconds of action. The remaining three points came on another triple by Tucker, courtesy of Paul, with 35 seconds left, putting a lasting end to Utah’s last-gasp comeback bid.

Chris Paul is headed to the WCF for the first time in his career pic.twitter.com/1j79IcBTlm

— Hoops ON Tap (@SONTHoops) May 9, 2018

16 in the quarter for CP3!#Rockets pic.twitter.com/Nb9aTW3HXD

— NBA (@NBA) May 9, 2018

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/994037444579348486

After the game, Paul and Mitchell, the latter of whom returned from the bowels of Toyota Center to catch the final moments of action, shared an on-court embrace. The future Hall of Famer and the Jazz’s new franchise player first grew close last spring, when Paul, after a workout, advised a nervous Mitchell to keep his name in the NBA draft.

“That’s like my little brother, man,” Paul said after the game. “I told him, ‘Hell of a series. Get healthy.'”

The future is bright for Utah. Mitchell is a legitimate superstar. Rudy Gobert, far better in Game 5 after being thoroughly outplayed by Capela 48 hours ago, is under contract for multiple seasons, and so is Joe Ingles. Ricky Rubio has one year left on his contract, and was playing the best basketball of his career before succumbing to a hamstring injury while closing out the Thunder. O’Neale is a keeper, and Dante Exum showed major flashes over the last seven weeks after missing the majority of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery. A tough decision looms on Derrick Favors, an unrestricted free agent.

But now is not the time to analyze the Jazz’s future, nor how the offseason will affect it. The Rockets are still alive, and all signs point to a showdown with the Golden State Warriors the basketball world has been craving since November – one Paul made certain would come as quickly as possible.

So much for a comeback. The Rockets beat the Jazz 100-87 on Sunday night, taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the teams’ second-round playoff series. Paul celebrated his 33rd birthday by scoring 27 points, grabbing 12 rebounds, dishing six assists and swiping two steals, living from mid-range offensively. Harden, who had 22 points and three steals, struggled shooting the ball from deep and committed eight turnovers, but made several big plays in the second half as Utah threatened. Capela, meanwhile, was awesome from the opening tip, finishing with 12 points, 15 rebounds (five on offense), two steals and a whopping six blocks in a career-high 37 minutes.

The Jazz aren’t as talented as the Rockets; that’s no surprise. But what’s been unexpected throughout this series, and was magnified to its greatest extent in Game 4, is Capela dominating his proverbial matchup with Rudy Gobert. The latter has made a career out of subtle two-way plays laymen overlook: affecting shots in the paint, simultaneously guarding his man and the ball, and creating opportunities elsewhere on the other end by setting good screens and rolling hard to the rim. It was Capela’s impact, though, that loomed far larger on Sunday. He dominated the offensive glass through sheer activity and athleticism, and routinely made life hard for Jazz guards after getting switched onto the ball. Gobert had a rough time on the rare occasions he was met with Capela directly, too.

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/993291903746523136

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/993315384634757120

Houstons’ center was an abject strength, basically, at the level of his superstar teammates on the perimeter. Utah’s center, on the other hand, had 11 points and 10 rebounds, but yielded a game-worst plus-minus of -28, his most glaring weaknesses – an inability to defend in space and lack of comfort with the ball – exploited on both ends of the floor.

Still, the Jazz had a puncher’s chance to win this game in the fourth quarter. They cut a 14-point deficit at the start of the period to just 85-80 on two free throws by Mitchell, who needed 24 shots to score 25 points, with 5:58 remaining, and briefly had the chance to make it a one-possession game after Capela missed a short bank shot. But he tipped in his own shot on a quick second jump, and Paul found Trevor Ariza for a corner triple in transition on the next trip down to put the Rockets back up by 10 points. Utah, with Paul and Harden salting the game away on offense and Capela owning the rim at the other end, would get no closer.

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/993314994581209089

Houston shot 10-of-38 from beyond the arc. Harden had his dribble ripped by defenders on multiple possessions, and shot 8-of-22 from the field. Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza combined for 15 points on 17 shots. None of it mattered, not in the playoffs, where effect of the Rockets’ innate ability to switch one-through-five defensively reaches its zenith. Utah’s true shooting percentage was an ugly 47.4, yielding an offensive rating of 88.8 – its worst of the postseason.

The Jazz, it bears mentioning, were more limited more than usual in Game 4. Ricky Rubio was inactive yet again after being upgraded to questionable before the game, and lingering discomfort from an ankle sprain on Friday night limited Derrick Favors to 16 minutes of action. Dante Exum, providing a huge spark early, picked up his third foul late in the first quarter, and left for good after tweaking his hamstring late in the third. Utah, inherently, just isn’t at its best.

But the Rockets weren’t on Sunday, either, and won by double-digits in perhaps the league’s most hostile environment anyway. That’s what real championship contenders do. Only one more game, probably, until Houston gets the chance to live up to that moniker.

James Harden had 25 points, 12 assists and one turnover in just 30 minutes of play, setting the tone from the opening tip offensively by letting the game come to him. Eric Gordon answered that call with aplomb, scoring a playoff-high 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Chris Paul had 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Clint Capela chipped in 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and four blocks, speaking to his supreme impact defensively.

Two basic schematic adjustments made a major difference for Mike D’Antoni‘s team in Game 3. The Rockets let Harden work mostly away from the ball early, yielding floor-general responsibilities to Paul. After catching on the wing with a head of steam, always following a ball screen or dribble hand-off, Harden routinely had the Jazz at his mercy while help defenders rotated behind the action, still spaced behind a perfectly-spaced floor. He lofted in soft floaters over Rudy Gobert, fed Capela for a number of thunderous dunks and, overall, promoted the type of energy and activity that Houston, which doled out 25 assists despite going just 11-of-36 from three, occasionally lacks.

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https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/992607126152298496

Utah confused the Rockets in Game 2 by sprinting into screens and immediately slipping out of them, creating a fleeting passing lane before the defenders involved could finish completing a switch. The Rockets were ready for the same action 48 hours later. They communicated early and often defending both on and off the ball, anticipating picks and passing off individual assignments before the Jazz had an opportunity to exploit any advantage gained – if one briefly materialized at all.

The Jazz were notably stagnant offensively as a result, settling for isolations, long two-pointers and awkward drives against swarming interior defense. Mitchell was the worst culprit, a reality owed to the even heavier offensive burden he shoulders absent Ricky Rubio, plus his lack of experience playing against postseason defenses geared toward stopping him. Time and again, the rookie drove the paint without a plan, getting his shoulder past the initial line of defense before forcing up shots through a canopy of arms. Mitchell had 10 points and three assists on 4-of-16 shooting, and was scoreless from the paint, missing his first six tries, until extended garbage time.

He didn’t get the help he received in Game 2, either. Vivint Smart Home arena was absolutely rocking after Ingles kicked things off by hitting a deep triple on Utah’s first possession. That was hardly a harbinger of things to come, though, as Ingles missed six consecutive shots and committed five turnovers before scoring again, finishing with six points on 2-of-10 shooting. Derrick Favors, who rolled his left ankle in the third quarter and didn’t return, took two awful jumpers in the opening moments, further contributing to his team’s cramped spacing on offense. Jae Crowder, red hot coming into Game 3, was 1-of-6 from the field. Royce O’Neale was a bright spot, scoring seven straight points during a mini run in the second quarter, and Alec Burks and Dante Exum both had moments off the bench. Rudy Gobert wasn’t the problem for Utah, but still padded his stat line late on his way to 12 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-8 shooting.

Fortunes change fast in the playoffs. Just two days ago, the Jazz were riding high, their first mission accomplished by stealing a game in Houston with two more awaiting in Salt Lake City. Three days before that, the Rockets seemed on their way to a second-round sweep, taking a 25-point halftime lead over Utah in a 110-96 victory.

The Rockets, though, were up 70-40 at intermission on Friday, and held a 38-point lead in the third quarter. Could they really lose to the Jazz again, let alone lose this series entirely? Only time will tell. Game 4 is Sunday.

Still, it was easy to watch the deciding stretch of Wednesday’s game and come away expecting more from Harden. He needed seven shots to score as many points in the fourth quarter, and didn’t offset that subpar efficiency with high-level playmaking, doling out just one assist. Utah outscored Houston 24-17 over the game’s final eight minutes and four seconds, turning a two-point deficit into a convincing eight-point win – and Harden, simply, didn’t do much to stop it.

The Rockets’ defense is more culpable than anything else for their dispiriting Game 2 loss. Chris Paul, Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker and Trevor Ariza combined for an ugly 11-of-35 on uncontested attempts, per NBA.com/stats, too. But Harden has made a habit of coming to the rescue for Houston when needed most, and failed to do so in crunch time on Wednesday.

The Jazz, obviously, deserve immense credit for keeping him in relative check. Dante Exum made several splash plays offensively, using his burst and length to get to the rim for explosive finishes and pinpoint lob passes, but was at his best on the other end of the floor, where he forced Harden into 0-of-7 shooting and two offensive fouls – his only turnovers of the game.

Utah’s coaching staff has clearly stressed the importance of primary defenders keeping their hands high, out of Harden’s proverbial cookie jar, and no player has done it better than Exum. His first step is quick enough to press up on Harden, invading his airspace to prevent a comfortable pull-up jumper, without giving him an unimpeded path to the basket going right. Few defenders in the league have the requisite combination of physical gifts and dogged demeanor to force Harden into looks like this.

“Dante has some size and some length,” Quin Snyder said after the game. “We’ve had confidence in Dante taking difficult matchups. No one’s congratulating each other with what happened for us defensively; I think we need to be better. Like I said, [Harden is] not a player that any one guy can guard. So the fact that Dante can come in, give us some minutes and compete and battle, is a big thing.”

Royce O’Neale, starting for Ricky Rubio, has done yeoman’s work on Harden, too. The Jazz’s defenders are contesting long and early on Harden’s vaunted step-back 3-pointer, extending right arms up and out even before he’s fully gathered the ball. Harden can make off-dribble jumpers under heavy duress, but those shots, so key to his effectiveness this season especially, carry a much lesser expected efficiency when his space is encroached and his vision is hampered.

The guide to successfully defending Harden, or at least hoping to do so, begins with keeping him away from his left hand. That’s far easier said than done. Harden attacks his defender’s top foot with relentless precision and patience. He almost always gets where he wants to go, no matter where the defense is trying to send him. Acknowledging that imminently helpless reality, Donovan Mitchell and other defenders unenviably switched onto the Rockets’ maestro often completely opened their hips to the sideline, sitting high on Harden’s left hand, yielding an open lane to the paint headed right.

That approach, while limiting Harden’s ability to pull back for triples, is a death-knell for the vast majority of Rockets opponents nonetheless. No player in basketball is better at getting back to his strong hand. But no player in basketball is a better rim-protector than Rudy Gobert, either, who did a masterful job in Game 2 committing to getting vertical with Harden at the last possible moment, preventing alley-oops or dump-offs to an awaiting Clint Capela.

Gobert contested 13 field goal attempts on Wednesday night, according to NBA.com/stats, five more than any other player, and Houston connected on just five of those tries. Just as importantly, he prevented at least half that many shots in the paint, ones Harden would normally feast on against most back-line big men – and did against Derrick Favors.

The length and timing of Gobert allows him to hang back in isolations or pick-and-roll action, confident he’ll be able to provide resistance once he and the ball handler meet closer to the rim. Favors’ comparative lack of physical gifts doesn’t afford him that luxury, and the Rockets routinely took advantage when he was playing center with Gobert on the bench.

The tandem of Favors and Gobert has a 133.5 defensive rating in 24 minutes over the first two games of this series, confirming a regular-season trend, just as expected. Expect Snyder to pull the plug on Favors even earlier in Game 3, bringing in Jae Crowder, who’s playing his best offensive ball of the season and offers far more positional versatility on the other end.

Regardless of what Utah looks like up front, though, Houston needs to put Harden in better position to succeed.  Flattening the floor and letting him call for a ball screen or dance one-on-one isn’t enough against the Jazz. One of the biggest reasons Daryl Morey brought Paul in last summer was to give Harden the opportunity to work off the ball, running around screens and catching on the attack as his defender trails in rear-view pursuit and the defense is already scrambling.

The slightest step one direction or the other can be the difference between Gobert blocking a shot or forcing a miss, and Harden finishing over the top or Capela slipping in for a dunk.

The Jazz have the horses, on the perimeter and interior, to make life difficult on Harden, and did exactly that when it mattered most in Game 2. Whether or not they manage the same feat at home could decide the tenor this series going forward, but even that isn’t guaranteed. Great offense beats great defense, and Harden is a virtuoso at the height of his powers.

The push and pull continues from Salt Lake City on Friday night.