Biggest Reason We Lost?

[SojoDave]

In my opinion, here is why we lost in the series... The Spurs are a horrible match up for the Jazz. Harris couldn't catch Parker with a motor cycle. Big Al has no clue on the pic'n roll defense. Millsap couldn't get a clean shot against Boris Diaw. Hayward couldn't throw it in the ocean. The Jazz just can't shoot well from outside. Our starting small forward for the last month hardly played. Our coach doesn't seem to make the obvious move.

First round series grades:

Harris: C
Hayward: D
Burks: C
Tinsley: C
Howard: D
Millsap: C
Kanter: C
Favors: B+
Jefferson: C
Ty: D-

 

[Stoked]

In my opinion, here is why we lost in the series... The Spurs are a horrible match up for the Jazz. Harris couldn't catch Parker with a motor cycle. Big Al has no clue on the pic'n roll defense. Millsap couldn't get a clean shot against Boris Diaw. Hayward couldn't throw it in the ocean. The Jazz just can't shoot well from outside. Our starting small forward for the last month hardly played. Our coach doesn't seem to make the obvious move.

First round series grades:

Harris: C
Hayward: D
Burks: C
Tinsley: C
Howard: D
Millsap: C
Kanter: C
Favors: B+
Jefferson: C
Ty: D-

That is way to lenient on Big Al in my opinion. Give Big Al a D and tell him to like that it isn't worse. I'd maybe give Harris a C+

 

[SojoDave]

That is way to lenient on Big Al in my opinion. Give Big Al a D and tell him to like that it isn't worse. I'd maybe give Harris a C+

I figured Al got an F on defense and a B- on offense and a C+ on rebounding. I figured a lenient overall C.

 

[Dr. Jones]

I've seen a lot of answers all of which could be understood as true but for me, it's team defense.

Was Al individually awful? Yes, but so was Harris in slipping through screens and keeping Parker from penetrating. So were our bigs at making Parker pay when he did penetrate. So were others and not just Al at rotating both down low for help and out to the wings. I mean, how many open threes did the Spurs have? About four or five per game.

Team defense is the answer for me. Had we done all the little things right, take better angles, rotate quicker, and so forth, we'd have still lost, sure, but we'd have limited so many of the easy baskets the Spurs got. We'd have turned some of that good defense into easier (transition) offense (where we too struggled), much like we saw in the 4th quarter last night. If we played better team defense, we'd have had less 14-20 point deficits, and more 8-12 point ones that felt like they were manageable.

Team defense.

But we hired Sidney Lowe, right? The same guy that couldn't keep a job at NC State .. or make the NCAA tourney. He's our guy on defense.

/smugassedness

 

[Stoked]

I figured Al got an F on defense and a B- on offense and a C+ on rebounding. I figured a lenient overall C.

Except for very brief flashes Big Al was dominated by the Spurs D (see Duncan).

 

[SojoDave]

But we hired Sidney Lowe, right? The same guy that couldn't keep a job at NC State .. or make the NCAA tourney. He's our guy on defense.

/smugassedness

You have stumbled upon something...FIRE SIDNEY LOWE!

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

But we hired Sidney Lowe, right? The same guy that couldn't keep a job at NC State .. or make the NCAA tourney. He's our guy on defense.

/smugassedness

Exactly. There has to be an up and coming hot assistant, ala Thibs, should we decide to go in another head coaching direction in a year or two.

 

[//r00t 4 Jazz]

I've seen a lot of answers all of which could be understood as true but for me, it's team defense.

Was Al individually awful? Yes, but so was Harris in slipping through screens and keeping Parker from penetrating. So were our bigs at making Parker pay when he did penetrate. So were others and not just Al at rotating both down low for help and out to the wings. I mean, how many open threes did the Spurs have? About four or five per game.

Team defense is the answer for me. Had we done all the little things right, take better angles, rotate quicker, and so forth, we'd have still lost, sure, but we'd have limited so many of the easy baskets the Spurs got. We'd have turned some of that good defense into easier (transition) offense (where we too struggled), much like we saw in the 4th quarter last night. If we played better team defense, we'd have had less 14-20 point deficits, and more 8-12 point ones that felt like they were manageable.

Team defense.

Like you said everything that has been said is a factor and I agree better defense leads to better offense and I guess I'll be even more general and vague. I say execution, initially I was thinking more offensive execution (or lack of it) they would still have to actually hit the shots but better offensive execution means better looks and easier defensive assignment if they miss and of course easier to play D off made shots. But like your post mentioned defensive execution would accomplish the same thing just in reverse so to speak.

 

[HipHopAnonymous]

Except for very brief flashes Big Al was dominated by the Spurs D (see Duncan).

I think dominated is a bit harsh. He did still average over 18 a game & shot 52%. He didn't defense but wasn't horrible on offense. In fact was better than his season average for the 2 games in Utah. Millsap was much worse on offense than Jefferson. He shot 37% which is horrid for a player like him.

 

[chawx]

Here are my grades for the full series, not just game 4:

Coaching : F+ (played terrible line ups, refused to call time outs on 20-3 runs, looked like a deer in the headlights. Hopeful that he can improve.)
Team Defense : D-
Team Offense : D-

--starters-- (Overall Grade : C-)
Jefferson : C- (scoring points is only like 1/10th of the game of basketball. everything else he's asked to do on the court, he does like ****! Al lovers are blinded by his scoring and are too dumb to see the other 90% of the game. Gets a higher grade because I think he actually learned something called 'urgency' from Carroll with 5 minutes left in game 4)
Millsap : C (at least he tried in this series. He got hacked more than any player has in a 4 game series in the history of the NBA without getting a call ...plus, extra points to Sap for not defeating himself before the game started by calling the Spurs a much better team)
Hayward : D+ (got other guys involved, played good D on Parker and Ginobli, but shot the ball like ****)
Howard : F (Did NOTHING but hurt the team)
Harris : C (Showed passion in game 3 and 4 and tried to will the team to a victory, but just isn't good enough)

--bench-- (Overall Grade : C+)
Favors : A- (Defense was stellar. Offensively, he needs more time on the court without Big Al getting in the goddamned way every time—Jazz superstar)
Carroll : B (Where the **** was this kid all series? Ty earned his F+ above because of playing Howard over him)
Burks : B- (Did what he was supposed to do, drove hard to the hoop and played aggressive on the defensive end. Game 4 sucked because he was getting murdered in the paint, but didn't get a single call)
Kanter : C (Raw as all get out. Showed a couple things out there, but not when he was in during important minutes. Needed to show that toughness he has!)
Tinsley : C- (Meh. Did his job, I guess, he could have tried to showcase more of that "craftiness" throughout the series though)
Evans : INCOMPLETE (Come on, Ty! This kid needed some burn! He deserved some burn! When we were looking like dog **** out there in game 1 and 2, you're telling me you, as the coach, couldn't figure out how to get him in for an energy burst for 10-15 minutes a game during important minutes?!)
Ahern : INCOMPLETE (Should have played him too in the 2nd quarter in games and run a couple plays for him to see if he would have been a spark to make a 3 pointer or two. Again, Ty's a ******* for sitting our only pure shooter the entire series and not even trying to see if he could help.)
Bell : LOL (The only other reason to give Ty the "+" in his F+ grade. Zero minutes for Bell was a good thing for this team.)

 

[Jeffrey32]

With the exception of Game 2, which was lack of effort on the players' fault, it comes doen to coaching and line-ups. Corbin shouldn't have started Howard over Carroll, changing the line-up that gave them their playoff push. He should have went with the big line-up more often. He should have played Carroll on Tony Parker sooner.

 

[Scorpjazz]

Totally obvious when watching that the reason the Jazz lost is that the Spurs are a MUCH MUCH better team, an elite team. The Jazz are up and coming and all the whining about them is stupid. Watching the series I realised how freaking awesome the Spurs are right now.
Blaming Corbin, Big Al (he did well), or whatever you want, is lame.
If we play a perfect series, we maybe win one (maybe), at most 2 games. Great experience to see what an elite team does in the post season for the guys, move on to next year.