116-126, the Jazz were defeated by the Pistons and suffered a three-game losing streak. This is beyond the expectations of too many people. The Jazz are the NBA's top powerhouse and are in a championship race. The Pistons are the fish belly in the process of reconstruction, and it has become the norm to encounter strong teams and be beaten. With an unexpected loss, the Jazz attributed the reason to a lack of defense.
In this game, the Jazz's defensive core Gobert continued to be absent, but head coach Schneider did not think that could be used as an excuse for poor defense. Conley also believes that the Jazz gave the Pistons more opportunities to easily attack the basket in the third quarter.
The Jazz's defense is really bad, and to make matters worse, they are not only bad at defense, but also on offense. In the second quarter, with Whiteside's outburst, the Jazz briefly led 54-32. But when the Pistons opened on the offensive end and scored 16 consecutive points, the Jazz did not respond accordingly, scoring only 5 points. In the 3rd quarter, When Cunningham scored 18 points to help the team reverse the score, the Jazz did not stand up to him.
The offensive end is prone to dudding, and the Jazz have been in three consecutive games. The loss to the Pacers, the jazz were only trailing 97-101 at one point in the final quarter, and there was a lot of hope of reversing the scoreline. But when Holliday scored eight straight points, the Jazz were unable to respond and lost momentum. Against the Raptors, VanVleet scored 24 points in the third quarter of 8, and the Jazz had no one to do the same thing, only to be slaughtered.
It also exposed why the Jazz were struggling to be a true title contender. Last season, the Jazz won first place in the West and was considered a favorite to compete for the title. But in the Western Conference semifinals, the Jazz were eliminated by the Clippers. At the time, the reason for the Jazz's defeat was believed to be that the Clippers found a way to deal with Gobert, breaking the Jazz's defense. Now it seems that the offensive instability is also the reason why the Jazz are out, and they can't keep up with the Clippers' offense.
Because of the excellent defense, the Jazz are easy to limit the opponent in the encounter, which is also the key to good results in the regular season. But after entering the playoffs, the Jazz's defense will be well studied and will be cracked. In this case, the Jazz can not use offense to make up for the decline in defense, and it is difficult to avoid going far in the playoffs.
Judging from the performance of the last 3 games, the Jazz have not changed much from the past. This requires the Jazz's number one star, Mitchell, to be better on the offensive end and constantly stand up to take over the game. The Jazz as a whole team must also increase their offensive firepower, otherwise, the Jazz can only be a pseudo-strong team.