Will Hardy Has 3 Areas Jazz Can Improve In After Warriors Blowout

The Utah Jazz have some strides forward to make after their recent loss.

Oct 25, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy checks the scoreboard against the Golden State Warriors during the third quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The Utah Jazz are coming fresh off a bleak second game of their 2024-25 season this past Friday, as they suffered from a brutal, one-sided blowout against the Golden State Warriors, finishing the contest 86-127 to start 0-2 on the year.

However, despite such a down night for the Jazz on both ends of the floor, third-year coach Will Hardy has remained confident in his team heading into their upcoming Monday road trip.

During Utah's weekend practice to prepare for the upcoming week, Coach Hardy sounded off on some of the key qualities he's hammered onto the players following their humbling loss against Golden State, ultimately boiling down three areas he wants to see take a step forward.

"Competitiveness and urgency. The third one would be body language," Hardy said. "The scheme doesn't matter if you don't play hard. Nothing is going to work if you go half-speed. The games are way too long, and the season is way too long to overreact to everything that doesn't go our way."

When it comes to the Jazz's most recent showing vs. the Warriors, not much did go the team's way. Utah shot an abysmal 31.5% from the field on the night, while also posting a 9/42 clip from outside compared to the Warriors 40.0% shooting from beyond the arc. It's not an ideal situation to be in for any team, but even when the ball isn't falling their way, Hardy wants to see better energy from his guys.

"The body language piece is a big deal for us as a group," Hardy continued. "We do not want to be a team that complains or begs for calls or is constantly feeling like you're being wronged. This league has an element to it, where you have to go and take it. Nobody's going to give it to you. Nobody's going to roll out the red carpet for you. We need to develop that mindset as a group every night, that we should not expect anything. We shouldn't ask for anything. We need to go out and play really hard as a team, and we need to be able to navigate the hard moments."

Looking ahead to the next few games, the Jazz will have their fair share of trials and tough moments to endure-- as matchups against strong Western Conference opponents like the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, and Denver Nuggets loom ahead for their next four. For Hardy and Utah, it offers a perfect opportunity to test their resiliency and ability to deal with adversity, even if shots aren't falling in their favor.

"Ultimately, to go where we want to go as a team and an organization, it's ugly," said Hardy. "The playoffs are nasty. Nobody feels good physically, and you're tired, and you're emotionally drained, and stress goes up when you're physically exhausted. So, how are we going to deal with the tough moments?"

"This is very small scale-- in the middle of the second quarter, we had two turnovers and it looked like the world was ending," Hardy explained. "We need to adjust our body language as a team, so we're trying to address that now. When we talk about building habits, it's not just dribbling, shooting, screening, and guarding pick and roll. There are habits of competition that we have to develop as well because the games are really hard. It's a game of runs. There's always pockets in a game that don't go your way, so we felt like addressing the competitiveness, the urgency, and the body language was the most important."

Thankfully for the Jazz, a long season lies ahead, leaving plenty of opportunity to learn and grow with a budding and impressive young core. It may not be an overnight process to get this team where they need to be both physically and mentally, but Coach Hardy clearly has his priorities straight for what he anticipates from his squad moving forward.

The Jazz will take on their first road bout of the season when they travel on Monday to face off against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks, with tip off scheduled for 6:30 PM MT.

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