Back in February, when the Jazz played the Hawks for the first time this season, I thought their defense was a little lacking: they gave up 112 points, but allowed Atlanta to shoot 46 threes overall. Sure, they only made 14 of them, but I thought the Jazz got away with a few open Atlanta misses.
So did Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce, and he admitted as such before the game. “I hope they defend us the same way, honestly. We found a lot of holes. I remember coming out of that game and kicking ourselves. We shot 46 threes against a team that doesn’t allow threes at that volume, and I’d take every single one of them that we got in that game.