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LAS VEGAS — Welcome to the Triple Team! After every game, I'll break down three topics from that night's game, flush with stats, highlights, quotes and more. Let's get started.
1. The Jazz effectively neutralized Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns, the number one pick in this year's draft, was limited to just 4-15 shooting and 5 turnovers in his 30 minutes on the court. While he ended up going to the line 8 times, he still ended up with just 14 points.
That's an excellent defensive performance, led by both Jack Cooley and Trey Lyles. Cooley certainly thought so: Cooley said "I think I did a great job" when asked about the matchup.
It seemed like Lyles and Cooley really frustrated Towns, to the point where his teammates were giving words of encouragement to the young Timberwolves center.
It was a much brighter performance than Saturday's, where the Jazz really lacked energy in a starless affair. Young players are well-known for giving more of an effort when the matchup is better, to the great frustration of their coaches. Tonight, the matchup against Towns clearly excited Lyles and Cooley, and they answered with a better, much more energetic performance.
2. Jack Cooley's rebounding secrets
Speaking of effort, one of the Jazz's biggest problems in Saturday's matchup was on the glass. Tonight, the Jazz did much better on that end, led by Trey Lyles, who accumulated 9 rebounds in his 24 minutes of play. The Jazz still lost the 2nd chance scoring battle 13-9, but had more shots in those second chance opportunites: they just didn't go in.
Jack Cooley was only responsible for four of the Jazz's 37 rebounds, weirdly enough, but he'll get the quote in the game recap articles around the internet despite the disparity. Why?
When you ask Trey Lyles about his rebounding, Lyles says this: "Tonight I tried to attack the glass a little bit more, and it worked." The obvious response is: why don't you try every game? Lyles' quote is cliche, boring, and uninsightful.
When you ask Jack Cooley about rebounding, though, he has a whole philosophy to share.
"Rebounding and being a banger sometimes go hand-in-hand," Cooley said. "It's intelligence, it's knowing how your teammates shoot, and sometimes those minute things go overlooked. I'm glad they get overlooked, because if they didn't overlook them, then they'd do them! They'd be good rebounders too."
"I'd go into all of my secrets, but the only one who's going to hear my secrets is my son, and he's not even born yet. I can't just give those out."
Personality, some insight, and humor. Perfect.
Still, the record shows that Lyles contributed in a big way on the glass Monday, which is an important improvement over his 5 total rebounds in his first two games of play. It's something he'll have to do at least adequately to get major minutes for the Jazz; coaches hate getting outrebounded and giving up free possessions.
3. Better games from summer league role players.
Yes, summer league role player isn't a brilliant title for anyone: if you're not contributing at this level, you'd better be pretty young and have big potential.
Having a good game or two is critical. Jared Cunningham and Brock Motum both contributed in big ways in the Jazz's win Monday, after disappointing somewhat through the first few games of summer league.
Cunningham was the Jazz's leading scorer Monday, with 17 points on 6-12 shooting. He showed off a lot of the cutting and finishing ability that made him the 24th pick of the 2012 NBA Draft, only 3 years ago. With such a high pick, he's likely to get pretty good opportunities next season, and he's just 24.
Brock Motum scored 8 points in under a minute in Monday's game, in the run that largely put the game away in the 4th quarter. His ability to make the NBA 3 from the stretch forward spot will keep giving him summer league and NBA fringe-y opportunities. He has another year left on his contract with the Adelaide 36ers in the Australian Basketball League.
Neither of these players will be making the Jazz's roster: it's simply too crowded with talented role players for them to make a cut. But playing well here, with literally thousands of executives, coaches, scouts, and agents present, will be a big boon to their careers if they can keep it up.
