Topping Gobert, Utah too tall a task for short-handed OKC
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz organization is quite courteous to visitors. While the opponents’ starting lineup is introduced, the Jazz scoreboard displays the head shots of all five players.
So on the big screen were Thunder players Jaylen Hoard, Georgios Kalaitzakis, Vit Krejci, Isaiah Roby and a silhouette of the NBA logo.
Uh-oh. No photo of Zavier Simpson. Understandable, since Simpson wasn’t signed by the Thunder until Tuesday, but Kalaitzikis same, and someone found a photo of him.
Melvin Frazier Jr. had an even more inauspicious start. Frazier, signed to a two-way contract earlier Wednesday, was inserted into the game with 4:19 left in the first quarter at Vivant Arena. Coming out of a timeout, Frazier’s first assignment was to inbound the ball on the side, in Thunder territory.
Frazier’s pass was swiped by Utah’s Jared Butler and taken the length of the court for an easy layup.
And so it went for the Thunder, in its 80th game of an 82-game season limping to a conclusion. Utah routed the Thunder 137-101, with the Thunder again using a variety of players just up from the G League Blue.
Simpson and Kalaitzakis each played about 43 minutes Tuesday in a 98-92 home victory over Portland.
They were joined by Frazier, and it made for quite the scouting dilemma for Utah. Who are these guys, the Jazz had to be asking?
“Been doing our digging,” Utah coach Quin Snyder said in pregame.
Simpson and Kalaitzakis combined for 24 points on 11-of-25 shooting against Portland, but the just-up-fromthe-G-League gang didn’t fare so well against the Jazz, which played without starters Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell and Royce O’Neal.
Kalaitzakis played 29 1⁄2 minutes and scored 11 points, making four of nine shots, two rebounds, two turnovers and one assist. Frazier played 32 1⁄2 minutes and scored eight points, making four of 15 shots, with five rebounds, no assists and one turnover.
Simpson played 38 1⁄2 minutes and scored four points, making two of 10 shots, but had 11 assists and just four turnovers. And Simpson got off one of those running hook shots that wowed the Paycom Center crowd on Tuesday. In Utah, the shot bounced off the back rim. The trio had some welcome-to-the NBA moments.
Jazz point guard Trent Forrest drove past Simpson for an easy layup on the game’s first possession.
Kalaitzakis fouled Utah’s Bojan Bogdanovic on the second possession, igniting a rash of foul shots for the sharpshooter (nine in the first 5 1⁄2 minutes).
Frazier drove the lane in the second quarter and tried to shoot over 7-footer Hassan Whiteside, the Jazz’s junior shot blocker, behind the indomitable Rudy Gobert. Whiteside blocked the shot back upcourt, and the ball sailed out of bounds near the scorer’s table, an incredible distance for a blocked shot. Early in the fourth quarter, Frazier drove and met Gobert in the lane. Frazier tried to launch a shot over the 7foot-2 Frenchman, which was like trying to throw a football over the Eiffel Tower. Gobert blocked it easily.
A few minutes later, the 6-foot Simpson tried the same thing. Same result. There are no Rudy Goberts in the G League.
“Lesson learned,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Good lesson for them. Good lesson for our team. We’ve got a lot of guys that are sitting on the sidelines that’ll play for us next year. You have to have intelligent attacks against this team. They limit your options, and if you’re kind of hasty in there against their bigs, it can be a really long night.”
Frazier, a second-round pick of Orlando in the 2018 NBA Draft, is a 6foot-5 wing out of Tulane. He played 29 games over two seasons for the Magic, then joined the OKC Blue last season.
“Frazier’s a guy we want to reward with the opportunity,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “We’re taking care of guys who have taken care of us. It’s an opportunity for us to do that.”
Little Big Men shine
This Thunder roster has an abundance of undersized big men. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Isaiah Roby and Jaylen Hoard all are in the 6-foot-8 range and all spend a decent amount of time playing center.
That means guarding the likes of Gobert and Whiteside. But it also means being guarded by the likes of Gobert and Whiteside. So the Thunder’s little big men took the Jazz giants out onto the perimeter.
Each scored 13 points in the first half, combining to make 13 of 21 shots, including seven of 11 from 3-point range. They cooled off some in the second half.
Hoard finished with 23 points on 8of-17 shooting, including five of eight from 3-point range. Before Wednesday, Hoard had made two of 21 3-point shots in his 36 career games.
Roby finished with 18 points, on 6of-10 shooting, including four of six from 3-point range.
Robinson-Earl finished with 18 points, on 6-of-10 shooting, including two of three from 3-point range.
That’s 59 points from the little big men, including 11 of 17 from deep. The Thunder as a team made 16 of 37 shots, 43.2%.
Waters hits hot streak
The only time the Jazz truly felt threatened was late in the second half, when OKC’s Lindy Waters III hit three 3-pointers in a 48-second span. That spree drew OKC within 55-53.
But the Thunder defense collapsed, giving up points on seven straight Utah possessions, and the Jazz took a 71-58 halftime lead.
Waters scored eight points in a 4 1⁄2 minute span against Portland but was subbed out and never returned. Waters played a little more against Utah, 26 1⁄2 minutes. He finished with 10 points and made three of seven 3-point shots.
Paint points one-sided
Snyder complimented the Thunder’s style of play. At least Daigneault took it as a compliment.
Snyder, when asked how to prepare for such a makeshift opponent, said OKC’s style of play is consistent.
“They drive the ball,” Snyder said. “So there’s certain things that are consistent with the identity of a given team, that may vary a little bit based on personnel, but there’s a general sense they’re going to play a certain way.”
Of course, that Thunder style was defined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who leads the NBA in drives to the lane, and Luguentz Dort and Josh Giddey. All are finished for the season.
The Thunder made just 18 of 44 shots in the paint. The Jazz recorded 10 blocked shots, led by Whiteside’s five.
“It’s a compliment, for sure, especially coming from him, because if there was a team that I would identify as one that has consistently played a very distinctive style, these guys are at the top of the list,” Daigneault said of Snyder’s comments.
“Some of what he’s seen or you’re asking about is the benefit of our Blue program. Because a lot of the players who are now playing for us have been in the program. It’s not about integrating them into a new system. It’s kind of like they come in here, the terminology’s the same, the expectations are the same. We benefit greatly from that.”
Sayonara to Sarr
To make room for Frazier, the Thunder waived center Olivier Sarr. Daigneault said it was nothing about Sarr’s play, just part of a plan to give more G Leaguers a look.
Daigneault said Sarr was part of the Thunder’s plan to cycle through a variety of Blue players, but with RobinsonEarl’s injury, the roster was short of centers.
“It kind of stalled our plan, which was to take multiple looks at guys,” Daigneault said. “Now we’re at a point in the season where we feel comfortable doing that.”
Sarr played in 22 games, averaged 7.0 points and 4.2 rebounds, and shot 57.4% from the field and 44.8% from 3point range. Sarr had 24 points and six rebounds Sunday night as the Thunder stunned Phoenix 117-96, even though the Suns entered with the NBA’s best record.
“I was really impressed with him,” Daigneault said. “First of all, his character. He’s very easy to like. His teammates really respect him. He’s extremely professional for a young player.”
Daigneault also praised Sarr’s defensive aptitude.
“It’s hard to know how a defensive big is going to learn drop (coverage) fundamentals,” Daigneault said. “And it’s really really hard. Because you’ve got guards coming at you, you’ve got a roller coming at you, and you’ve got to learn all the nuances of how to play two guys for periods of time. A lot of young bigs struggle with that. It’s hard to predict how quickly a person’s going to improve on that.
“We’ve had bigs that they do that for a long time, and they really struggle with it, and they make very marginal improvement. And we’ve had other guys that have made fast improvement. The speed with which he (Sarr) improved at that was impressive.”
Thunder at Lakers
When: 9:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles
TV: Bally Sports Oklahoma (Cox 37/HD 722, DirecTV 676-5)
Stream: DirecTV Stream
Radio: WWLS 98.1 FM
Three things to know
• The Lakers have been eliminated from both playoff and play-in contention. L.A. was the preseason favorite to win the West.
• LeBron James, at age 37, is averaging 30.3 points per game. It’s the third time in his 19 seasons that James has averaged north of 30 points per game.
• The Lakers are playing on the second night of a back-to-back. The Lakers played at the Warriors on Thursday night.