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The Triple Team: Andy Larsen’s analysis of a subpar individual and collective Jazz defensive performance against Memphis

The Jazz had a 120 defensive rating against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Jazz are supposed to be a good defensive team, and Grizzlies are not supposed to be a good enough offensive team for this to happen.

Yet, it did. How? The really tempting answer is the fouls that the Jazz gave up, sending the Grizzlies to the line 34 times. The fouls really were the defining characteristic of a slow, ugly game that was just a bore to watch, but the Grizzlies let the Jazz off the hook: they only made 61.8 percent of those free throws.