David Locke post Game Jazz Portland

Jazz Bags - Utah at Portland Post Game Thoughts and Notes

Before we get started, remember it's only one game and a preseason game at that. On the same note, there is only one more preseason game prior to the games counting for real. So what do we take from the 110 - 90 loss?

Positives -
Derrick Favors
Wow! Can you call it a statement? Not sure, but 25 and 12 is impressive. Even more so when you consider it came on 10 of 15 shooting. The odd thing to me was that I didn't even realize that he was having that big of a game until Boler mentioned it on the broadcast. Not to mention that Favors had the second best +/- of any Jazz player tonight with a -1 (Evans was a +3) Favors development and potential to explode may be closer than we think. 
(That brings in a whole different conversation. Does that mean he starts over Milsap? It'll be curious to see what lineup Ty Corbin goes with on Wednesday. If Favors backs up 25/12 with another big game it may be hard to not put him in the starting lineup.)

Enes Kanter
Kanter only had 6 points on 1 of 7 shooting, but he was 4 for 4 from the free throw line. This coupled with his ability to just gobble up boards (10 tonight) makes him a viable piece of the big man puzzle this year even if it is only 5 - 10 minutes a night. 
I was really impressed that Kanter seemed more comfortable tonight than he did Saturday at the scrimmage. Not sure what that means, but I think it's a good thing.

Alec Burks
Burks numbers on the night weren't great, and he made plenty of rookie mistakes. But that's just it! Burks wasn't afraid to make the mistakes. He wasn't tentative. In short, he didn't play like a rookie. Burks was not afraid to drive, shoot or make a mistake. This is the way he'll learn. You've got to love his confidence.

Ty's Sense of Urgency
Corbin's post game comments of there is no time to lose is backed up with him not giving the team the day off tomorrow. Games count for real next week.

Play Ball
Maybe the biggest positive tonight was doing a pregame show with +Scott Garrard and Tom Nissalke, watching the game on Root Sports, hearing Boler and Harpring's back and forth, hearing+David Locke and Ron Boone break things down during their broadcast and following the highs and lows of the Jazz fans thoughts on the #UTAatPOR twitter stream. In short, it's good to be back.


Negatives
Starting Lineup
Many of you on the #UTAatPOR twitter stream were very frustrated with the play of the starting lineup (or veterans). Frankly, you should be. I'm not going to single any one or two guys out, it was a collective group effort.
It was disappointing after hearing all of the positive comments coming out of practices that that was the first effort we got to see. Maybe the most disappointing thing was to see guys revert to how they played last year after Portland punched them in the mouth early.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that is not the starting lineup we will see come the 27th vs the Lakers, or even on Wednesday.

Defense Still Lacking
The Jazz not only gave up 110 points, but also allowed Portland to shoot just under 56% in doing so. At times guys were so late on rotations that the Blazers had time to chat with members of the crowd prior to shooting the corner 3. 
I get that this is a new defense, but as stated before, there is not a lot of time to get this thing hammered out.

Final Thought
I'm sure that Ty Corbin will change up the starting lineup for Wednesday's game. Here's the starting 5 I'd like to see on Wednesday.
Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Al Jefferson. 
When I tweeted this out after the game (@benbags) I got a lot of negative reaction on putting Raja in the starting lineup. I've been as critical of Bell's game as the next guy, but I like Raja and what he can bring to this starting 5. Especially if he brings a bit of nastiness. We'll extend this conversation tomorrow on Powerhouse.

Until then...It's good to be back....and now I'm off to watch Clippers vs Lakers