Jaren Jackson Jr. fouling is only thing that can stop him
In a game where the Grizzlies faced the NBA's best defense with a shorthanded roster, Jaren Jackson Jr. resoundingly showed that the only thing that can stop him is foul trouble.
Jaren Jackson Jr. was utterly dominant last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves — finishing with 36 points on 15-23 shooting in just 27 minutes. Some might ask why he didn’t play 30+ minutes in a close game where he was absolutely cooking?
Foul trouble.
A trend that’s occurred since the beginning of his career, foul trouble hindered Jackson’s resounding impact in a game, once again. Taylor Jenkins cautiously sat him at different points of his fouling to avoid further foul trouble. Jackson ultimately finished the game with 5 fouls — extending his streak to 50 straight games without fouling out.
That script familiar?
Last night’s game was a prime example — as well as a dominant outing against a 3-time Defensive Player of the Year and the current odds-on favorite for his 4th in just about every sportsbook — of how foul trouble is the only thing that can stop Jaren Jackson Jr.
And it’s on him and Taylor Jenkins.
Before getting into the foul trouble, we have to dive into the film of just how Jackson imposed his will on the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jackson set the tone here with this unbelievable move in space. His handle has always been pretty advanced for a player his size and his age. He’s given space to operate and generates a step on Gobert with the behind-the-back dribble on his way to the bucket for the layup.
Stash away plays like this one. Off the rebound, Jackson brings up the ball to get into transition offense. John Konchar sets a screen, creating a defensive lapse from Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaden McDaniels and some space for Jackson to fire a quick 3 in rhythm.
The Grizzlies generate a 1v1 opportunity with Jackson with secondary action. They occupy the help defense with a Stagger Away action on the weak-side. Jackson gets downhill opposite the stagger, and by the time he gets to the spin, it’s too late for the help defense — they’re left ball-watching for his and-1 bucket.
Jackson does a great job keeping his dribble alive here, as the Wolves blew up potential DHO actions with both David Roddy and Santi Aldama. Jackson maneuvers the defense well there with switching hands. After Aldama gets through, Jackson decides to just go ahead and aggressively take on Rudy Gobert to the rack.
The moment you can tell Jaren Jackson was on something different in this game. Despite getting blocked by Gobert, he corrals the miss and goes up even stronger with the poster dunk.
The Grizzlies have gone to this sequence plenty of times — Jackson getting the ball out the net and igniting transition offense before the defense can really set up. He immediately goes at Kyle Anderson, spins away from McDaniels’ help at the nail for a jump hook. Without a true point guard to set the table offensively, the Grizzlies will need to make up for its creation deficiency with Jackson’s mismatch-hunting early.
Jackson initiates the offense again. He doesn’t draw the switch from the Konchar screen, but does with the Tillman screen. Once Towns covers him out of the pick-and-roll, Jackson shows great change of pace downhill and shoots a floater before Gobert can draw a contest.
Again, quick offense to generate downhill momentum. Every now and then, the Grizzlies would trigger a handoff where Jackson turns a corner towards the weak-side. He shows great control with the initial hesitation dribble, then when bodies Gobert into the spin move and jump hook.
Another rehash of Jackson quickly igniting the offense as the primary initiator, but wanted to take notice of the value of having Luke Kennard a pass away. With Kennard as the next pass, McDaniels can’t slide and help the Jackson drive at the nail, which opens up the path for Jackson to get to the tin for the bucket.
Yeah, no real comment. The epitome of Jaren Jackson’s offensive domination in this game. Don’t take Jaren Jackson Jr. for granted.
Jackson’s last basket highlighted great navigation on his way to the bucket. For starters, he had to dodge a shoved Kennard — which was a no call. He resets himself on the drive and gets to his left hand amidst the pressure from two All-Defense caliber defenders.
The Timberwolves didn’t have an answer for Jackson.
Jackson with Gobert as the primary matchup (17.7 partial possessions, per NBA's matchup data): 17 points, 8-13 from the field
Jackson with Towns as the primary matchup (15.9 partial possessions): 11 points, 5-7 from the field
Jackson put so much together on his way to a commanding performance. He drifted through the bucket with pristine ball-handling and pace, shifting gears through Minnesota’s stifling defense. His finishing in the paint included good contact absorption, crafty footwork, and feathery touch. He attacked the Timberwolves as a driver and as a 3-point shooter on his way to one of the most resounding games of his career.
However, the only thing that could slow down Jaren Jackson Jr. was his foul trouble. There were fouls he could’ve avoided, but Taylor Jenkins should’ve been a bit more aggressive with managing Jackson’s foul trouble.
It’s a two-way street, here. Both parties have to be better.
I’ll focus primarily on his 2nd half fouls, where it became more detrimental to the flow of the game.
I mean, Jackson couldn’t have avoided this call here. It may have been too close of a call to challenge. It could’ve been a bit too early and aggressive to challenge. The off-hand shove from Towns could’ve at least made it close. This foul though is where it went downhill for Jackson’s fouling.
Vince Williams got beat on the cut from Anthony Edwards, a drawback of face-guard coverage, which put Jackson in position to help. Jackson places his left hand on Edwards on his body, which is leveraged against him on the drive and foul. Jenkins pulls Jackson out of the game until the 4th quarter.
Luckily, that risky substitution didn’t hurt the Grizzlies too much. Luke Kennard went on a heater — scoring 15 points and hitting all 4 of his 3-point attempts. David Roddy came in and impacted the game with his physicality. The Grizzlies maintained a 5-point lead going into the 4th quarter.
The same risk didn’t pay off in the 4th quarter though.
This foul changed the tide of the game. Jackson has an ideal mismatch with a lighter, shorter Nickeil Alexander-Walker guarding him. Jackson utilizes the off-arm on the drive, and sends it into Alexander-Walker. Unnecessary contact is still a part of Jackson’s game he needs to minimize, primarily through offensive fouls or frustration fouls. In this instance, he doesn’t need to draw much force in generating separation from Alexander-Walker.
And this is on Taylor Jenkins, too. Would a challenge work here? I’m not sure — if anything, the call may stand with Alexander-Walker earning a flopping technical foul. Jackson got him here. However, he should’ve kept Jackson on the floor after this foul.
The guys fueling the 3rd quarter performance — Kennard, Vince Williams, Aldama, and Tillman — played the majority, if not all, of the prior period. They needed a breather to come in for crunch-time minutes. I get that.
Jackson shouldn’t have been off the floor with Ziaire Williams, GG Jackson, Jacob Gilyard, and David Roddy in the game. Especially if the reasoning was foul trouble.
The tide shifted this game. The Grizzlies were up 89-88 when Jackson picked up his 5th foul with roughly 10 minutes to go in the game. By the time Jackson re-entered the game, the Timberwolves were up 99-93 after 3 minutes on the bench. The deficit wasn’t insurmountable for the Grizzlies, especially with who was re-entering the game — Jackson, Konchar (sneakily a +14 in a 15-point loss), Kennard, and Vince Williams all came in at the 7-minute mark. However, the Grizzlies gave up all momentum in that 3-minute span, as the Timberwolves drilled 3 three-pointers in that span.
Let’s be clear — the talent deficiency between the Timberwolves and Grizzlies might have been too much to overcome in the first place. The Timberwolves’ top 7 guys all played, and Jackson and Kennard are the only ones active for the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are missing 3 stellar ball-handlers and 2 playoff-rotation big men.
However, how much of it could have been mitigated if the Jenkins was less conservative about Jackson’s foul trouble, specifically in the 4th quarter? Would they have held down the fort in the 4th quarter until the other starters came in? Does Jackson ultimately foul out?
Who knows, but it was worth being aggressive and bet on him imposing his will without picking up a foul. Jaren Jackson’s performance was that good in last night’s game where the benefits of the gamble exceeded being risk-averse.
It’s a two-way street. Jackson has to be better with his fouling — smarter with navigating drives (both offensively and defensively), and not picking up fouls in bunches. Jenkins has to lean out of the conventional foul trouble practices with his best 2-way player.
In a stretch where adaptability and unconventionality are points of emphasis, this is one of those moments for Taylor Jenkins — walking the fine line between not fouling Jackson out yourself, or neglecting foul trouble altogether and it coming back to bite. I understand the foul trouble management through 3 quarters, but in the 4th quarter of close games, you have to put yourself in position to win games.
But Taylor Jenkins can avoid these situations if Jaren Jackson — the league-leader in personal fouls — cuts down his fouls.
Again, two-way street.
Foul trouble aside, Jaren Jackson Jr. strung together one of the most dominant performances of his career, given the circumstances. The team was shorthanded without its All-Star backcourt, they were facing the league’s best defense anchored by an all-time rim protector, and the matter in which Jackson was scoring.
As this game showed, Jackson has continued to evolve as a walking mismatch — capable of muscling his way to the bucket, taking opposing bigs off the dribble, and letting it fly from 3 in variety. And it also showed that the only way to really slow Jackson down is foul trouble.
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