Will Hardy has three areas where the Jazz can improve after their loss to the Warriors

The Utah Jazz just came off a dismal second game of the 2024-25 season last Friday as they suffered a brutal, one-sided loss to the Golden State Warriors, finishing the contest 86-127 and starting 0-2. year.

However, despite the disappointing night for the Jazz on both ends of the floor, third-year coach Will Hardy remains confident as his team heads into Monday’s upcoming trip.

During Utah’s weekend practice to prepare for the week ahead, Coach Hardy talked about some of the key attributes he’s instilled in his players following their humiliating loss to Golden State, ultimately highlighting three areas where he wants to see a step forward. forward.

“Competitiveness and urgency. The third factor will be body language,” Hardy said. “The scheme doesn’t matter if you don’t play hard. Nothing will work if you drive at half speed. The games are too long and the season is too long to overreact to anything that doesn’t go well.” our way.”

When it comes to the Jazz’s latest performance against the Warriors, not much went in the team’s favor. Utah shot an abysmal 31.5% from the field and also shot 9/42 from beyond the arc, compared to the Warriors’ 40.0% shooting from beyond the arc. It’s not an ideal situation for any team, but even when the ball isn’t falling their way, Hardy wants to see more energy from his guys.

“The body language piece is very important to us as a band,” Hardy continued. “We don’t want to be the team that complains, asks for calls, or constantly feels like you’ve been treated unfairly. There’s an element in this league where you have to go and get it. Nobody is going to give it to you. . No one is going to roll out the red carpet for you. We need to develop a mindset in the group every night that we shouldn’t expect anything. We need to go out and play really hard. team, and we need to be able to cope with difficult moments.”

Looking ahead to the next few games, the Jazz will have their fair share of challenges and difficult moments ahead as they face tough Western Conference opponents like the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets.” the next four. This is a great opportunity for Hardy and Utah to test their resilience and ability to handle adversity, even when the odds are stacked against them.

“Ultimately, going where we want to go as a team and as an organization is ugly,” Hardy said. “The playoffs are disgusting. Nobody feels good physically, you’re tired, you’re emotionally exhausted, and stress increases when you’re physically exhausted. So how do we deal with difficult moments?”

“It’s on a very small scale; midway through the second quarter we had two turnovers and it felt like the end of the world,” Hardy explained. “We as a team need to change our body language, so we are trying to solve this problem now. When we talk about forming habits, we’re not just talking about dribbling, shooting, screens, and defending pick-and-rolls. There are competitive habits that we need to develop too, because games are really difficult. This is a game about running. There are always moments in the game that don’t go your way, so we decided to pay attention to competitiveness, urgency and body language. the most important thing.”

Luckily for the Jazz, they have a long season ahead, leaving plenty of opportunity to learn and grow with a promising and impressive young core. It may not be a one-day process to get this team to where it needs to be both physically and mentally, but Coach Hardy clearly has his priorities straight as to what he expects from moving his team forward.

The Jazz will play their first road game of the season when they travel to take on Luka Doncic and the Mavericks on Monday, with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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