Jazz Basketball Is Back

July 31st, 2020 | by Isaac Adams

Gobert was an important figure in the NBA’s first game in over four months, includng by scoring the decisive points. (Garrett Ellwood via utahjazz.com)

Rudy Gobert’s Poetic Night

On March 11 the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder had taken the court at Chesapeake Energy Arena and the opening tipoff was seconds away when the Thunder’s head medical staffer, Donnie Strack, sprinted onto the floor and told game officials to stop the game. Utah’s all-league center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19. That was the moment when not just the NBA but the entire world seemed to come to a stop. In the following days the United States finally started taking the novel coronavirus seriously (for a time at least) and we all entered lockdown mode. The Jazz and Gobert were not only at the center of the NBA, they were a major mainstream story.

In what seems like a lifetime between then and now, the Jazz continued to be in the headlines. Donovan Mitchell was the second NBA player confirmed to test positive for COVID-19; there was serious strife, and eventually a reconciliation of sorts, between the team’s two All-Stars; longtime head coach Jerry Sloan passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia; Bojan Bogdanovic had season-ending wrist surgery; Mitchell and other Jazz players were among prominent figures to protest police brutality following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota; and finally the NBA announced that the 2020 season would be completed in Orlando, Florida and the re-opening game would be between the Jazz and Pelicans.

Some may have raised eyebrows at the Jazz being featured as the season restarted, but the league choosing to feature Zion Williamson was no surprise and anybody who watched the earlier contests between these two teams experienced some close-fought, thrilling games including two controversial finishes in January.

On Thursday night, 140 tumultuous days after the league suspended play in March, players from both teams and officials all kneeled in unity around the words “Black Lives Matter” on the court in Orlando. It was time for NBA basketball to officially begin again.

It just seemed right that the player whose diagnosis had stopped the league months earlier should feature so prominently when it finally restarted. Gobert won the tip and seconds later made the first basket of the restart. The Jazz started hot and quickly took an 11-point lead before fading. As the game continued, the Pelicans began to dominate, opening up a 16 point lead in the 2nd quarter before the Jazz cut it to 12 at the half.

On the back of some high-level defense from Rudy, the Jazz kept the game within range and with some magnificent fourth quarter heroics from Mitchell, the game was tied with the shot clock turned off. Mitchell found a diving Gobert who was fouled by former Jazzman Derrick Favors. Gobert stepped to the line and hit both freebies to give the Jazz the lead and, after one last defensive stop, the win. The night wasn’t all about Rudy and there was some great ball played by both teams, but it felt poetic that the man whose role was so prominent in the NBA stopping was also so prominent in winning the first game back.

Stat of the Game

+48.6. That’s the Net Rating for the new Jazz starting lineup of Mike Conley, Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Royce O’Neale and Gobert from Thursday’s game. That is absurd. Small sample sizes are deceiving, especially when it comes to lineup data, but the 16 minutes those five played together last night were more than double the number of minutes that combination had seen all season (only 14 minutes total before the restart).  While on the court together, the starting lineup held the Pelicans to a 68.6 offensive rating while putting up a very respectable 117.1 offensive rating themselves.

The 14 previous minutes that fivesome played together before Thursday came over five different games. In a very limited sample, the combination looks like it works, posting a +21.3 Net Rating before the restart and the insane +48.6 last night. Of course, having a starting lineup that dominates like that and barely winning the game means that the lineups featuring reserves were not what one might hope. The Jazz bench needs help.

Line of the Game

The game slowed down for Mitchell in the second half and especially the fourth quarter. What looked like a disappointing game for him early ended up 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block. Not bad, Spida.

Decisive Moment

The Jazz and Pelicans have played each other tight this season and last night was no different. The decisive moment didn’t come until after Rudy hit the icing free throws with seconds to play when Brandon Ingram missed a decent look from 3.

Highlight of the Game

Social

It got ugly in the middle of the game for the Jazz.

Notes

  • The box score doesn’t look bad for Jordan Clarkson and his second half was much better, but Clarkson’s minutes in the first half were some of the worst I’ve seen from him in a Jazz uniform.
  • Conley looked good on Thursday, now Utah just needs to get his three falling.

Up Next

The Jazz and Thunder will finally get to play that game that never was. That important game between the Western Conference’s current Nos. 4 and 5 seed will be played on Saturday afternoon/evening.

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