The 2019-20 NBA regular season officially restarted in Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida on Thursday. In the first two games, the Utah Jazz came back from a 16-point trail to defeat the New Orleans Pelicans 106-104. The Los Angeles Lakers achieved a close win over the Los Angeles Clippers 103-101.

Pelicans' defense, Jazz's offense, Williamson's time limit

Scoring was never a problem for the Pelicans. J.J. Reddick's off-ball move and 3-point shooting, Lonzo Ball's passing in fast break, Jrue Holliday's perimeter shooting, Bandon Ingram's isolation plus Zion Williamson's incredible finishing ability made them the second-fastest team (103.9 possessions per game) in the league that could score 116.2 points (the fifth-most) on average.

However, their defense, which allowed 117.0 points per game was as disappointing as it was two years ago. Back then, the Pelicans had two All-Defensive First Team members, Holiday and Anthony Davis, but the team watched their opponents score 110.4 points per game, the second-most of the league.

Unlike Davis who could join Holiday to double team the slasher in the perimeter, Derrick Favors was more comfortable remaining under the basket in defense. He is a qualified rim protector but his teammates kept giving him tough nuts: Choosing between protecting the basket and covering the opponents' big man.

In the second half of Thursday's game, Favors was already having a hard time tussling with Gobert, who was about 10 centimeters taller than him, in the paint. During the same time, Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson continued to have their owns in New Orleans paint. In the last 30 seconds, Favors decided to let Gobert go and protect his rim. He contested Conley's shot. Conley missed it but grabbed the rebound – which would not have happened if New Orleans had reliable defense in wing position. When Mitchell broke into the paint again, Favors played the same trick, only this time Mitchell passed the ball to Gobert who was not too far from Favors for him to commit a foul on. Favors fouled on Gobert who then made both free throws to seal the win for Utah.

Jazz fans should be happy that Mitchell and Gobert did not shoot each other on the court after the COVID-19 turmoil. On the contrary, Mitchell made several great passes to Gobert, including the last one that drew the foul by Favors. Despite their relationship off the court, when the two best players of the Jazz can work together in the game it is definitely good news.

Nonetheless, the team had more bad news in offense. Landing Bogdan Bogdanovic and Conley raised Utah's 3-pointers, but also made them to switch from "finding the best open shot via delicate passing and moving" to "one-off deal around screen."

That's why Utah trailed by 12 points (60-48) in the first half of the game. In so many possessions, Mitchell, Conley, Emmanuel Mudiay or even Georges Niang either pulled up directly or drove towards the rim after Gobert set a screen for them. Such recklessness led to nothing but continuous fast break chances for New Orleans.

In the whole game, the Jazz only sank eight 3-pointers at a rate of 23.53 percent. Their victory was built on the higher points in the paint (56-48) and a more aggressive game (24-13 in free throws). If the team still wants to make a breakthrough in the playoffs (which will be difficult), Conley and Mitchell must figure out how to fill up the vacancy of Bogdanovic who was able to drop 20.2 points and make three triples at a 41.4-percent 3-point rate per game.

When players of the Pelicans were running off their legs in defense and totally lost in offense in the last quarter, their best-talented player Zion Williamson was sitting on the bench, watching his teammates get close to defeat.

Williamson came back healthy (and reported to have lost 25 pounds). When he was on the court, he went 6-8 to get 13 points, which was quite efficient. He was still the team's best finisher. His combination of size, power and athleticism made him so hard to match for the Jazz in defense. He even completed an incredible alley-hoop assisted by Konzo Ball in the second quarter.

Nonetheless, coach Alvin Gentry still refused to give Williamson more than 15 minutes. If the 20-year-old could have stayed on the court in the last five minutes, the rest of the team should have been able to think clearly at how to launch an offense. Moreover, Williamson's power would make it less comfortable for Gobert under the Pelicans' basket.

Perhaps the Pelicans were not so desperate to make the playoffs in Orlando.

Using big men is a common problem for Lakers and Clippers

Both the Lakers and the Clippers held back in Thursday's game, maybe more so on the Clippers' side. They did not have their best bench pair in Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Even Patrick Beverley was only given 16 minutes on the court. The Lakers had no intention to make this a cutthroat contest either and that's why they gave Dion Waiters 21 minutes in the game.

The Clippers' two seven footers, Ivica Zubac and Joakim Noah together shared only 25 minutes on the court during which both committed four fouls. Neither was able to match Anthony Davis in defense and had little to contribute in offense. Of course, the Lakers did not make many gains in this area because when they put both Davis and JaVale McGee/Dwight Howard on the court, their offense was far from smooth.

In response, the Clippers turned to small-ball squad and used it for a long time. The good side was they were doing better in moving the ball thanks to better spacing – Paul George benefited the most from this and he scored a team-high of 30 points.

The bad news was that the so-called "big men" in this lineup, Marcus Morris, JaMychal Green and Patrick Patterson were basically useless facing the league's most brutal rim assaulting by the Lakers. They could not protect the rim or rebound, watching the purple and gold drop 40 points in the paint. Unstoppable Davis got a game-high of 34 points.

Another interesting comparison in this game was Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James. Leonard called a lot of screens on the court, trying to maximize the power of his isolation in mismatch. Nonetheless, his game seemed to "simple." The Lakers somehow were convinced that Leonard would go by himself instead of passing the ball to the teammate who set screen for him. When he became so predictable, Leonard found it increasingly difficult to cause trouble for the Lakers' defense.

By contrast, James dominated the game in a different way. He tried to create opportunities for teammates from the beginning and delivered five assists in the first quarter alone – James had a clear knowledge about how the game should go. Meanwhile, his 35-year-old body had problem catching up with his mind – that's why he only got nine points in the first three quarters.

However, James was still able to help his team with something more than orchestrating. For example, defending Leonard. James had big enough size to cover Leonard so he could not pull up easily; he's also strong enough to follow Leonard in tussling; more importantly, he knows well enough not be conned by Leonard's signature shooting fake move.