In full galley in January (12 defeats in 16 games!), the Jazz finds its rhythm in February.
” We know we had a tough January“, explained on this subject Hassan Whiteside. ” However, we never thought that we could not compete with the best teams. Our schedule was complicated and several of our players were absent. There, some are coming back and we think February is going to be a nice month for us.“
Indeed, while Rudy Gobert is still on the flank because of his hip, the return of Donovan Mitchell (re) energizes an entire team for the moment, which is currently riding a series of four straight wins.
And the latest, won last night against the Warriors (111-85), is undoubtedly one of the most convincing men of Quin Snyder.
” Collectively we were all in for a good night “Reacted the rear All-Star, author of 14 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. ” We knew we lost our first two games to Golden State, so we fought [hier soir] because we didn’t want to let go of the third, which would have caused us to lose the tiebreaker. We were combative, we were focused in defense and we achieved a lot of good things. Our communication has been excellent, it is starting to evolve. We’re starting to rack up some wins, our players are coming back, we’re starting to play well again and find ways to win.“
Clean and smudge-free
Victorious in the great widths of Golden State (+26), which nevertheless remained on nine victories in a row before this night, Utah signed there its first success of the season (in seven games) against one of the three best teams in his conference (with Phoenix and Memphis).
And the Salt Lake City franchise won by notably achieving a second period of fire (56-36), while Stephen Curry’s teammates had managed a 10-0, straddling the second and third quarters, to regain control (57-55) and turn things around. Momentarily.
” Few teams can recover from a Warriors ‘run’, when Stephen Curry starts putting in his shots“, said Hassan Whiteside (9 points, 17 rebounds, 7 blocks). ” Except that we came back and we won by 25-30 points. It shows our fighting spirit, our strength of character. I think it’s one of our best wins of the season, if not the best.“
In the wake of this “run”, it was then only a walk in the park for the Jazz, far too imposing under the panels for the Warriors, with its pair of pivots made up of Udoka Azubuike (11 points, 5 rebounds ) and Hassan Whiteside, therefore.
Confirm this return to form
In attack as in defense, Quin Snyder’s men have thus mastered the debates from start to finish (or almost), in order to iNFLate their morale, after a very difficult passage to start this new year 2022.
” We did a good job in defense “, estimated the Salt Lake City coach, concerning this successful performance of his players. ” And it has a lot to do with the players who were off the ball, because our players were ready to rotate and help out. It helped us rebound and defend the shooters. Golden State makes it so complicated with their screens and all their hard work there, but we defended well. We were focused on this level. Even when we were beaten, someone was there to come up and help. We must continue on this path.“
However, even if the results of Utah begin (finally) to become again in adequacy with the objectives announced this season, Quin Snyder does not especially want to ignite. For now, anyway…
” I don’t want to because just a week or two ago the sky was about to fall on our heads, according to some “, he recalled, cautious, to conclude.
