Jazz Knock Off Timberwolves with Will Hardy’s It-Takes-A-Village Attack
Jazz #Jazz
The Utah Jazz are 2-0.
As the clock expired to end overtime, Jarred Vanderbilt slam-dunked the ball with a thunderous bellow, sealing a Utah Jazz 132-126 road win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rudy Gobert’s first shot at revenge? Well, it was Vanderbilt who served it up — cold.
The Jazz are now 2-0, and while many NBA talking heads view first-year head coach Will Hardy’s impressive start as a collective whistling past the graveyard, the proof is in the proverbial pudding.
Hardy’s Jazz featured six different double-digit scorers, three of whom finished in the 20s. To wit, Jordan Clarkson led the Jazz with 29 points, followed by Lauri Markkanen’s 24, and Kelly Olynyk’s 21.
Clarkson was a big reason why the Jazz surged back in the third quarter, and it was Markannen who actually drilled the death-knell bucket in overtime to give Utah a four-point lead with 12 seconds and change left to go. Meanwhile, Olynyk went 5-of-6 from three-point land.
The Jazz might be sans a bonafide superstar player, but it would appear that fits Hardy’s ‘it takes a village’ ethos just fine. Utah is getting help from every corner of the roster, and Hardy’s tactic of sending wave after wave of fresh bodies at opponents, early on, is paying dividends.
As for Gobert, he finished the night with nine points and a whopping 23 rebounds. But he’s got a little egg on his face — and I’m not just talking about losing to the Jazz in his first swing at the plate as a Timberwolf.
Gobert will have to live down the ignominy of his rookie replacement in Utah — the former SEC Defensive Player of the Year — Walker Kessler notched a nice little poster shot of him utterly rejecting the three-time All-Star at the rim. It was a nice little development of poetic balance.
For his part, Kessler garnered 17:42 minutes and posted six points, five rebounds, and four blocked shots. Perhaps not as prolific statistically as his Jazz debut on Wednesday, but the Rudy stuff makes up for it.
To come full circle, Vanderbilt was a monster on the boards once again, finishing the night with 14 (four offensive) and four points. He once again got into a little foul trouble, which curbed his offensive impact.
All in, it was an elating win for the Jazz, punctuating an impressive debut against the Denver Nuggets. It’s too early to say whether Hardy’s squad of proletariat players is for real, but Jazz Nation will take it all day long and twice on Friday.
Tank down? For what?
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