So last night, the Jazz laid an egg against the T-Wolves.  Granted, the game was in Minnesota, but the Wolves are basically playing for ping-pong balls right now.  Last week in LA, they dropped one to the Clippers, another team playing their way into the lottery.  In between the Clippers and WOlves games, they barely squeaked by the Hawks in SLC.  In all 3 of these games, they were listless on D, casual on O, and played with almost no energy.  David Locke (a local radio man) described their play as "feckless."  Perfect description of the Jazz over the last 3 games. 

How then, does this team come back from 18 down against the PISTONS by 8????  Why can they come back from a huge deficit to beat one of the top teams in the league, but they can't beat 2 of the worst teams in the league?

I'll tell you how - Defensive intensity.

The defensive intensity they showed tonight was nowhere to be found in the 2 losses.  It seemed that the Jazz were content to let the Wolves and Hawks shoot at will, and then just try to outshoot them on the other end.  Heck, that's the way the Jazz started tonight against the Pistons.  When will this team learn that good defense leads to easy baskets? 

Think about it - Good defense forces the opposing team into bad shots.  Alot of those bad shots are jumpers from outside 15 feet trying to beat the shot clock.  That means long rebounds.  Long rebounds give the guards a chance to grab it on the run and get right into the fastbreak.  Fast breaks = easy buckets.  Good defense also leads to more turnovers.  Turnovers also lead to easy buckets.  Both of these held true in tonights game.  The Pistons forced the Jazz into bad shots and turnovers in the first half.  The result?  Pistons by 11 at the half.

The turning point came in the third quarter.  Ronnie Brewer blocked a shot, followed the block, harrased Prince into dumping it off to Wallace, and then tied Wallace up for a jump ball.  Jazz got the tip, which led to an easy bucket. No points on the possesion for the Pistons, 2 points for the Jazz.  From that point on, the Jazz seemed to challenge every shot, go for every rebound, and close the passing lanes.  The Jazz outscored the Pistons by 7 in the 3rd, and 12 in the 4th. 

The Jazz are a young team, and once they learn this (and I know that Sloan is preaching this every day at practice), and go after EVERY team with the same intensity, they will be a real contender, instead of a team with a lot of potential.