· A tremendous game ending with a halfcourt buzzer beater from Trae Young. Don’t see those often and that shot was really something from Trae.
· Trae Young is the story tonight with a 24 points and 20 assist game and those 20 assists were for 50 points.
· The play before Trae Young’s game winner is bonkers. The Jazz tried to inbound to Kessler who was trying to pin the defender on the switch. They were down 3 with 8.8 seconds left and I am sure the Hawks would have fouled Kessler the moment he touched it so seemed a strange place to inbound. The pass got deflected and never got to Walker and with it loose Collin Sexton out of no where hit the ball and then ran after it and got off a tap from Cody Williams got it back and hit the three to tie. The effort from Collin on this play was out of this world.
· With :32 seconds left off a nice defensive possession the Jazz were down 1 and pushed it up the floor and got a wide open left corner three from Lauri Markkanen, who has amazing all game with a season high 35 point, but this one didn’t fall. The Jazz had the shot to take control of the game from their best player in his best spot and it didn’t go.
· Walker Kessler was really terrific tonight. His force inside is changing games. He scored 10 straight points for the Jazz down the stretch. He hit two crucial free throws, he had two offensive rebound put back dunks, he had a little left handed hook off an offensive rebound and he got a dunk of a pick and roll when they doubled Lauri. Defensively he made a great play denying a alley opp to Capela. Walker is the story of the season and he is playing really well.
· The Hawks went after Lauri Markkanen in isolation instead of Walker Kessler on the pick and roll when they got switches. This is the first time I have seen these. The numbers say this is the right move. Lauri has been really struggling in isolation defnese and Walker has been really good. Lauri held his own tonight in the 4th quarter when Trae Young went 1 on 1 on him.
· The Jazz struggled with the Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic quick slip on the perimeter. The Jazz didn’t get it switched fast enough a few times and Bogdanovich got open threes. Trae Young just breaks your defensive because of the threat and when you make the slightest mistake he makes the pass to take advantage of it.
· Jazz had two really unfortunate plays late in the game. Lauri got called on an offensive foul pushing the defender on a pick and roll and Sexton fouled Trae Young with 12 seconds left that meant the Jazz had to foul on the next possession.
· Cody Williams played all 12 minutes of the 4th quarter. He keeps showing a flash or two. He had a drive tonight with a left hand from the left wing into the paint for a high left hand finish that was great. He played with the ball in his hand initiating the offense some in the 4th quarter and had a great wrap around pass in the paint to Drew Eubanks. It is going to be fun to watch him the rest of the season.
· Johnny Juziang got another start. He is putting up solid numbers in his starts. 11 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists tonight.
· Patty Mills went nuts hit three straight threes in the 2nd quarter.
· The two things the Jazz have done poorly all year they did ok with tonight. They did not turn the ball over a ton against a team that forces a ton of turnovers and they didn’t allow a lot of transition against a team runs the 3rd most of any team in the NBA. In fact, in the 4th quarter Hawks had very few transition plays.
