Key Match-up – Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokic
In ways that are somewhat reminiscent of Rudy Gobert‘s early rise to stardom, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is steadily becoming one of the most dominant young big men in the league. Despite the fact that his ascension has gone largely under the radar, there’s no denying that his play has been a critical reason why the Nuggets currently find themselves in the playoff picture.
For the season, he’s averaging 15 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, but recently he’s been even better. In his last 12 games, he’s averaging a monster 23 points per game that has included a pair of 30-point outings while also grabbing an average of just over 10 boards per game.
Here's the updated TPA breakdown for the Denver Nuggets, who possess plenty of offensive firepower: pic.twitter.com/SZfoUH19DI
— NBA Math (@NBA_Math) January 18, 2017
If you like basketball and you're not paying attention to Jokic by this point, you need to fix that.
— dan c. (@danclayt0n) January 23, 2017
He’s also an extremely efficient three-point shooter for a player his size and has been impeccable from the floor with a percentage of 59.6 percent on the season. As he continues to find his stride, it appears he’s likely to only get better and better.
Therefore, it’s quite clear that Rudy is going to have his work cut out for him. Unfortunately, Gobert is coming off somewhat of a quiet night where he finished with just 12 points and failed to continue his streak of double-figure rebounding games as he grabbed just nine boards. He also went just 2-of-7 from the foul line missing what would turn out to be crucial free throws.
Luckily, on several occasions this season, Gobert has been able to follow up quiet games with an absolutely incredible bounce-back game, so look for him to come out with an extra edge in tonight’s contest.
The Jazz will certainly need him to do so as he looks to slow Jokic and the Nuggets to help prevent Utah from dropping two straight games.