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- The Utah Jazz lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 130-107 after the All-Star break.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren led the Thunder with 21 and 20 points, respectively.
- Jazz coach Will Hardy emphasized growth, highlighting Cody Williams' potential and sibling rivalry.
SALT LAKE CITY — Will Hardy expects more from his young players now that the All-Star break is over.
"It's time to graduate. I don't think the rookies are rookies anymore," he said. "They've had a lot of experience."
Their first task: Play the best team in the West.
Isaiah Collier, Kyle Filipowski and Cody Williams might be a little more experienced than they were a few months ago but still have a ways to go to reach the level the Oklahoma City Thunder have been playing at this season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 points, and Chet Holmgren added 20 as the Thunder rolled Utah 130-107 in the first game back from the All-Star break. Oklahoma City outscored the Jazz 39-25 in the second quarter to build a lead that was never challenged.
John Collins had 26 points to lead the Jazz, while Keyonte George added 20 points and six assists. Walker Kessler had 19 rebounds and Collier had 12 assists in the blowout loss.
"It was a good kind of welcome back after the All-Star break," Hardy said in a bit of an understatement. "I'm glad we have another game tomorrow."
Hardy said that it was a good moment for the team to realize the level of physicality needed against the top-end teams in the league and about taking more individual pride in individual defense.
The problem with that? The Jazz don't actually have a good individual defender.
Case in point: KJ Martin, who the Jazz acquired just before the All-Star break, and Jaden Springer, who just signed a 10-day contract this week, made their Jazz debuts to see if they could provide some defense.
"I want him to be incredibly physical on the ball," Hardy said. "And I think that for the most part, he did that. I also want him to scramble defensively. I think both he and KJ showed moments of doing things that aren't a part of the scheme. When the play breaks down, it's just about scrambling and decision-making.
"You're at a numbers disadvantage and you have choices to make," he added. "But I'm really looking for Jaden and KJ to be good individual defenders, and also sort of model what being a competitive defensive player looks like. I think both those guys have some very natural ability on that side of the ball."
It's not a great sign that those guys are being used as an example of what a "competitive defensive player looks like," but that's where the Jazz are this season. Springer had 7 points and two assists in his debut, while Martin had 2 points in 15 minutes.
Springer thinks he can bring that kind of defensive prowess.
"I feel like I can definitely do that," Springer said. "I've probably done that pretty much the whole career, so being able to bring that to the team if that's what they need. Definitely get that done."
Despite the result, it was a special night for one Jazz rookie. For the first time as an NBA player, Williams played against his brother, Jalen. The older brother won the battle; Jalen Williams finished with 18 points and nine rebounds; Cody had 3 points and three rebounds.
But that was to be expected.
"If there's anything that I want Cody to take (from his brother), it's that his brother is not the same player now that he was his first six months in the NBA," Hardy said. "But I also don't want him to think that he has to be his brother. Cody is his own person; he's his own player."
Hardy does want the younger Williams to use his older brother as an example of how to use an offseason — something he's confident will happen.
"They clearly have a very close relationship, and so some of that stuff I feel like I don't even need to address, because Cody's going to do that on his own," Hardy said.
