Salt City Seven: Gobert & the Jazz Shutting Teams Down, Exum’s Week, Smart O, More

January 1st, 2019 | by Dan Clayton

Gobert and the Jazz are back to shutting people down at the rim and elsewhere. (Photo from Gobert’s Twitter feed)

Every week here at SCH begins1 with the Salt City Seven: a regular feature for each day of the week as we relive the biggest moments, key performances and hot issues in Jazzland from various angles. Check in every week for the quotes, stats, plays and performances that tell the stories from the last 168 hours in the world of the Jazz.

An important quote from or about Jazz players or personnel during the week.

“I’ve got that same vibe that I had last year at the end of the season… We felt like it was clicking. I kind of had that same feeling I had last year when we made that big run. I feel that same way, that same energy. I feel like everyone’s coming with a defensive mindset. When we do that we’re a good team.”

-Jazz center Rudy Gobert, via the team’s website

The Jazz may enter 2019 one game under .500 and with a tough 4-game road trip starting on January 1, but in a lot of ways, it feels like the elite Utah team of last season has returned.

Sure, they had a defensive hiccup when Philadelphia visited on Thursday. But aside from that, Utah has been in lockdown mode, with Gobert at the center of an elite, intimidating defense.

That Philly game was their only time in the last nine outings that they didn’t have a defensive rating that was better than the league’s top D. Saturday’s shellacking of the Knicks put them back in the top five defensively, but in the last three weeks they are tops in the league on that end by far.

Gobert has just been phenomenal as the anchor to that improved play: a smart, attentive, active captain of the defense who is getting better at blowing up plays in different schemes. Thanks to Gobert’s defensive versatility and a group of committed, active defenders around him, Utah is one of the best teams in the league at dictating what opponents do with their possessions. The Jazz allow the second-lowest percentage of opponent attempts to come at the rim, and the third-lowest percentage from 3-point territory2. Nobody forces their opponents to take a higher percentage of their shots from midrange.

Once again, Utah is taking control of games on the defensive end. They did it on Christmas against the Blazers, a team with smart and capable offensive players. For more than four minutes in the early third quarter, the only points Portland scored were on a tough, guarded stepback two by Damian Lillard and a couple of free throws. Then later, after the visitors got back to within nine in the fourth quarter, the Jazz again held them without a bucket for nearly four minutes while stretching the lead back to 21.

New York isn’t a good team right now, but Utah held them to a 34-point half on Saturday evening, with a 63 D-Rating and 32.9 percent effective field goal shooting.

So yeah, Gobert is right to feel the vibe of last year’s team returning. The elite defense has returned, and just in time for the schedule to give them a major boost. After they complete this 4-game trip, they will be at the halfway point of their season, and have only 15 road games remaining over their final 45, 

Stats that tell the story of the week or highlight a timely topic.

+13.5

Per Steve Ilardi, the Jazz own the NBA’s second-best lineup in terms of Net Rating with a minimum of 200 minutes played. When Jae Crowder teams up with starters Gobert, Ricky Rubio, Donovan Mitchell and Joe Ingles, the Jazz are 13.5 points per 100 possessions better than their opponents. Of course, the version of that lineup with usual starter Derrick Favors is also pretty dang good: plus-6.2 in 248 minutes. 

Also, a couple of small-sample lineups to watch: when it’s Favors and Crowder with the three starting wings, the Jazz are plus-24.4, but only in 40 minutes. And the revamped bench unit of Dante Exum and Kyle Korver with Ingles, Crowder and Favors is plus-14.2 in their first 29 minutes together.

13 & 1

Speaking of Exum, the Jazz guard filled in admirably when Rubio had to miss Saturday’s game to a leg contusion. In fact, it was the first time in nearly eight full years that a Jazz player dished 13 assists while logging one or fewer turnovers. The last guy to do it: Earl Watson in January 2011. It was Exum’s first career double-double, and 12 of his assists came before halftime. For the week, Exum averaged 16 points, six assists and just one turnover per contest, and he shot 56 percent from the field, 50 percent from three and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line.

54.0

Props to Twitter’s @giladperry for noticing that Utah’s slate has been so tough that the gap between their RPI strength of schedule figure and the Clippers (second hardest to date) is the same as the gap between the Clippers and the 12th team on that ranking. The schedule owes them, and is about to start paying them back.

+1.6

Another good sign for the Jazz, as relayed by our good pal Ben Dowsett: in the month of December, Utah had a positive Net Rating with every player off the floor. Over the first six weeks of the season, their Net Rating was a disaster when Ingles or Gobert sat, but now they can survive while their leaders rest. They’re plus-1.6 without Ingles since December 1 and plus-6.2 with Rudy sitting.

 

Breaking down the Xs and Os behind a Jazz score from the week.

Smart off-ball stuff by Korver and Ingles

We’re going to spend another week here talking about how smart guys like Korver and Ingles are off the ball. Starting with this gorgeous cross-court cut that gives Korver an open three.

The Knicks are bad defensively. So let’s start with that. They tried to cover up their badness with a little 2-3 matchup zone, and Korver just destroys it with a heady crosscourt pass and then a cut that basically follows the path of his pass. 

He sees Exum waving for the rock in the opposite corner and delivers the pass, and then Exum does something smart: he drives middle. Had he driven baseline, that cut isn’t open to Korver. But because he goes middle, Korver can slide right behind the defense that is occupied with Exum’s drive. New York’s other defenders just point, and Korver makes the first of five threes.

Here’s another play where he smartly reacts to the defense, this time while they try to deny him the pindown. 

What CJ McCollum tries to do here is called “top-locking.” He knows Korver wants to rub him off on the pindown screen Gobert is setting, so he takes the angle away. Or he tries to at least.

Instead, Korver just uses the screen anyway. Instead of using it as a simple pindown, he first runs inside, then all the way back around Gobert. The center smartly repositions the pick to buy Korver a second to get his shot off.

And Korver isn’t the only one who can defy the top-lock strategy.

Here, Ingles sees Maurice Harkless try to deny him the pindown, so he fakes a baseline cut before taking a U-turn and using the flare screen Gobert sets to get him open in the corner.

Ingles and Korver both seem to have every counter to every defensive strategy down to muscle memory.

After each Jazz win, Twitter helps us decide who was that game’s MVP or most memorable performer.

The Jazz went 2-1 during this holiday week, which means we have two game balls to dole out.

Jazz 117, Blazers 96: Rudy Gobert

Visions of sugarplums? The Blazers went to bed on Christmas night having nightmares of Gobert. The Jazz center denied SEVEN of their shots, while also pouring in 18 points (all from the rim or the free-throw line) and grabbing 14 boards. He held the Blazers to 41.7 percent shooting at the rim, and Jusuf Nurkic had just a 30% eFG night playing opposite Gobert and Favors. Ingles, Rubio and Exum all orchestrated beautifully while shooting and guarding well, but this one was the unanimous choice.

Jazz 129, Knicks 97: Dante Exum

When I tweeted after the game that I thought this one was a fairly obvious choice, I was actually referring to Gobert, who had 25 points and 16 boards on 10-for-12 shooting. But enough people responded on Exum’s behalf that I reconsidered. The Aussie guard ran the offense extremely well in Rubio’s absence, while limiting turnovers and also scoring 13 of his own. He was definitely the “narrative” pick — i.e. the guy whose performance we’ll associate with that game when we remember it a month from now — even if Rudy was probably the game MVP in more traditional terms. But here’s what sealed my flip-flop: per Dowsett, Jazz coach Quin Snyder actually credited Exum for getting Gobert going. So let’s get X on the board; Gobert has been racking them up lately, after all. 

A quick look at the Jazz’s next seven nights of action.

Note: this week’s Look Ahead comes courtesy of Ken Clayton. 

The Jazz find themselves back in a familiar situation: living out of a suitcase on the road. By the next SC7, the Jazz will have finished three quarters of a 4-game road trip, and will have toured the Eastern Conference nearly from top to bottom, standings-wise.

Tuesday: Utah at Toronto, 5:30 p.m. MT

  • State of the Raptors: The Raptors were sporting the NBA’s best record, but have slid into second in the Eastern Conference after a 7-7 split in their last 14 games. Most recently they’ve had narrow wins over the Bulls and Heat, coupled with lopsided losses to the Magic and Sixers. Kyle Lowry has missed seven of the team’s last eight games.
  • Jazz-Raptors: Toronto beat the Jazz by 13 in Utah back in November. The Jazz defense was lacking in that contest, giving up quarters of 30, 35, 29 and 30 points. Kawhi Leonard didn’t play in that game.
  • Key for the Jazz: Lowry will not play, and that will help the Jazz, who have had a hard time containing him, but Leonard will presumably play. The Jazz will look to slow Leonard, but keep a close eye on sometime Jazz-killer Danny Green and backup point guard Fred VanVleet, who will likely play extended minutes for Lowry.

Friday: Utah at Cleveland, 5:30 p.m. MT

  • State of the Cavaliers: Halfway through the season, the Cavs are sitting in last place in the East and the NBA. Most of last year’s Finals squad is playing basketball elsewhere or injured, leaving a team that is long on youth and short on experience.
  • Jazz-Cavaliers: This is the two teams’ first matchup of the season, and there’s no point in trying to draw conclusions from last year’s meetings. The teams will meet again in Utah two weeks after this game, on January 18.
  • Key for the Jazz: Play Jazz basketball, or a reasonable facsimile. If that happens, this won’t be a game to worry about.
  • Reunion: This will be Rodney Hood and Alec Burks’ first games against the Jazz since their respective trades to the Cavs (and their first career games against the Jazz ever). Kyle Korver and Jae Crowder will likewise face  Cleveland for the first time since the trades, although particularly in Crowder’s case, there are few Cavs teammates left with whom he can reunite.

Saturday: Utah at Detroit, 5:00 p.m. MT

  • State of the Pistons: After a game against teams at the top and bottom of the East, the Jazz will face the Pistons, who are currently exactly in the middle of the standings. That said, they’ve haven’t playing well as of late, going 3-11 recently, including a 6-game losing streak. A recent win over the Celtics should remind the Jazz not to consider this a cakewalk.
  • Jazz-Pistons: This is also the first Utah-Detroit meeting of the season, with the second to follow nine days later on January 14. Last season the Jazz won both games: a 3-point overtime win in Motown that ignited the 29-6 finish, and a 31-point drubbing in Salt Lake City.
  • Key for the Jazz: The Pistons are a rare two-bigs team, with Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin, although Griffin has a well-rounded skill set as well. The Jazz will try to slow those two, which might mean extended time for Gobert-Favors lineups. Backups Jae Crowder (if healthy) and Thabo Sefolosha might have a harder time with Blake’s size at 6-10.

Tracking the wild Western Conference postseason race and the Jazz’s place in it.

The Jazz are projecting as a 48-win team in both FiveThirtyEight’s prediction model and ESPN’s. The latter has been stingy with Utah’s projection for much of the season, as it tends to factor more recent play while 538 generally trusts its longer-term sense of who a team is.

That the two have finally aligned probably makes that a pretty steady forecast. And for what it’s worth, both models have the Jazz facing Houston in the first round. The Jazz are currently 2-1 against the Rockets, although MVP James Harden is one of the game’s most dangerous offensive talents.

FiveThirtyEight also supplies game-by-game odds, and they see the Jazz as having a real chance to sprint to the finish line. After this current 4-game trip, 538 has them as 51% or better to win in nine straight games and 33 of their final 41. They won’t win all 33, but it’s a good indication of just how much the schedule shifts in Utah’s favor.

Because after all, we’re here to have fun.

They said it… 

Happy New Year, SCH readers! Here’s wishing you an exciting, interesting, healthy, safe and prosperous 2019! 

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