This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Having a good defense is great but at some point, however, you have to score points to win in the NBA.
Take the case of the Utah Jazz on Thursday night. They contained the Chicago Bulls and the duo of Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade, for the most part. So Utah's 85-77 loss to Chicago in front of a TNT audience can be blamed on an offensive performance that was, well, offensive.
With a sellout crowd at Vivint Smart Home Arena groaning at each miss, here were some of the Jazz maladies on Thursday night. There was a 15-point third quarter that started with six consecutive missed shots, and yielded a 9-0 Bulls run. There was Gordon Hayward struggling mightily for the second consecutive game, shooting 3 of 15 on his way to eight points with Butler shadowing his every move.
There was Rodney Hood trying to pick up the slack, but a 12-point performance on 5 of 16 shooting was nowhere near enough. And with Hood and Hayward's offense disappearing, the Jazz as a whole never had a chance.
"We just came out and didn't play with energy," Hood said. "It was a bad night for us."
Making things worse, the Bulls played better offensively in the second half. Up 66-58 heading into the fourth quarter, Chicago went on a 9-0 run, a spurt the Jazz could never recover from.
Butler wasn't his usual efficient self, as Hayward made him work. But Butler still finished with 20 points, also grabbing 12 rebounds and handing out three assists. He figured out ways to exploit gaps in Utah's defense. He scored nine points in the first quarter and he had help from a number of places, namely Wade, Robin Lopez and even unlikely sources such as Isaiah Canaan.
Plus, Butler and Wade were both clutch. When the Jazz made their run in the fourth quarter, twice cutting Chicago's lead to five, Wade and Butler both made jumpers, the latter one giving the Bulls an 84-77 lead with 1:11 remaining.
"We had a lot of open shots tonight and we couldn't knock them down," Hayward said. "When you can't do that, teams just crowd the paint and that's what Chicago did to us tonight."
Much of Utah's second half can be blamed on its inability to take advantage of a terrific first half defensively. The Jazz struggled from the field in the first two quarters, shooting 44 percent from the field and going 3 of 11 beyond the 3-point arc.
But their defense not only kept them afloat, it gave them a lead. Utah held Chicago to 28 percent shooting, as the Bulls scored 15 points in the second quarter and Wade went 2 of 8 shooting in the first half. And there lies the issue; had the Jazz been able to make multiple open shots, they could've given themselves a margin to guard against an extended drought.
But they couldn't. Utah's biggest advantage was 43-38 in the waning minute of the first half. Then came the turning point. With a chance to extend the lead, Hayward missed an open jumper over Lopez. With 4.2 seconds remaining before halftime, Butler canned a long 3-pointer to pull the Bulls within 43-41. His shot provided Chicago the momentum needed to take the game over at the beginning of the third quarter.
Without both Derrick Favors and George Hill, the Jazz struggled to get into their sets. With the offense not running smoothly in general, significant pressure shifted to Hayward and Hood to create offense. The Jazz walked the ball up the floor far too much, and the result was a team having to work for every point without the benefit of easy baskets.
Utah went 4-1 last week on its first extended road trip of the season. But the good feeling created by that success is almost gone after an 0-2 homestand this week and two upcoming road games at the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets this coming weekend.
The Jazz fall to 7-6 on the season and are on their first losing streak of the season.
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Storylines
• Chicago leads by as much as 17 points in second half.
• Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood combine to shoot 8 of 31 from the field.
• Rudy Gobert leads the Jazz with 16 points and 13 rebounds.