Utah Jazz: In Rudy Gobert’s Absence, Teammates Fail to Step Up in Game 2

After a marvelous victory in Game 1 of their first round playoff series, several Utah Jazz players failed to step up in Game 2 in the continued absence of Rudy Gobert.

Prior to Game 2 between the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers, I made it clear that while stealing Game 1 on the road was an enormous accomplishment, it wouldn’t be enough for Utah to settle with simply taking one victory. Yes, the win was surprising and impressive, especially considering that Rudy Gobert went down with a knee injury mere seconds into the contest, but going up 2-0 and putting the Clippers on their heels would have been phenomenal.

In my piece from Monday, I noted that the Jazz should look to get a little selfish and come out hungry and ready to win in spite of already taking back home court advantage. Apparently the players agreed with that sentiment given that, as you can see in the tweets below, Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood, among others, sounded off on that need to come out and seek to earn a win:

Unfortunately, the Jazz looked anything but hungry to start out last night’s Game 2 battle, as the Clippers quickly got up 11-3 and never looked back from there. LA would lead the entire way as they finished the game with a 99-91 victory.

Utah certainly deserves some credit as they hung around the entire game. However, they got down by eight pretty much right off the bat and despite pulling closer a couple of times, for the most part it stayed that way for the entire contest.

And while, as our very own Ryan Aston pointed out earlier today, the Clippers were able to feast in the paint where they dropped 60 of their 99 points in the absence of Rudy Gobert, not only was the Stifle Tower’s absence a large reason why the Clips were able to have their way, but they also pulled out the Game 2 victory because by and large the Jazz didn’t have enough guys rise to the occasion and step up.

In Game 1, Derrick Favors was absolutely marvelous, stepping in for the injured Gobert in a big way as he finished with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He was solid again in Game 2 with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, but he truly didn’t seem as confident or formidable as he did in the first contest and clearly wasn’t nearly as solid defensively as he had next to no impact in the paint.

Gordon Hayward was Utah’s leading scorer with 20 points, but even though he topped his scoring output from the first game, Hayward’s Game 2 performance was significantly less impressive. He shot just 5-of-15 from the field and wasn’t nearly as aggressive on the boards as he had been in Game 1. Not to mention, Hayward missed several shots down the stretch that could have been complete game-changers had they gone in.

To the Clippers’ credit, Luc Mbah a Moute and his teammates have done an exceptional job of locking down Hayward. He shot 38.9 percent in Game 1, then just 33.3 percent last night. The good news for Jazz fans is that on only two occasions this season has Hayward posted three straight games of shooting under 40 percent, so that would seem to bode well for him having a bounce-back game shooting-wise in Game 3.

However, the Clippers did also force Hayward into his worst shooting game of the season in mid-February (2-of-12, 16.7 percent) so there’s no questioning that they’ve had a solid game plan for containing him all year long. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Utah’s All-Star needs to play as such. He failed to come through in big moments last night and the Jazz will certainly need him to do so in the upcoming home games, especially if Gobert continues to be sidelined.

Perhaps the most disappointing Jazz performance, though, came from George Hill, who shot just 5-of-12 to finish with 12 points, coughed up the ball three times and did very little to slow Chris Paul defensively. The Jazz have been at their best when Hill is a major contributor, but it seems like it’s been a while since he’s produced consistently.

Meanwhile, Utah’s role players were less than phenomenal overall in Game 2. Even Joe Johnson, the hero of Game 1, wasn’t dynamite last night. He finished with 13 points on a respectable 40 percent shooting, but went 0-of-4 from deep, missing out on some crucial opportunities.

The bench player who has really gone MIA, though, has been Rodney Hood. He followed up his 2-of-7 performance in Game 1 with an only slightly better 3-of-7 outing in Game 2 to finish with eight and ten points, respectively. Not exactly ideal for a guy once considered Utah’s third best scoring option.

Thus with Rudy Gobert out of action in Game 2, it was all too evident that the rest of his Jazz teammates were unable to step up their games and will the team to a victory. To be quite honest, considering how much Utah struggled to defend the paint and how clunky the offense looked for most of the night, it’s surprising that the Jazz were able to keep the game as close as they did.

That poor response after indicating prior to the game that they were indeed hungry to take a 2-0 lead in the series was certainly disappointing. However, the good news is that the Jazz will return home on Friday with home court advantage and the series knotted at one game apiece. And perhaps it’s encouraging to consider as well that, even with Rudy Gobert out of commission, the Jazz were just a good game out of Hayward, Hill, or Hood away from taking that two-game lead.

However, it’s obvious from Tuesday’s loss that the Jazz still have several areas to improve. LA looked much more physical, focused and driven in what was practically a must-win for them in Game 2. Although ideally Rudy Gobert will be back sooner rather than later in the series, the Jazz have to be feeling good that they not only hung tough in Game 2 despite a poor overall showing, but also stole Game 1 in spite of the absence of their stellar rim protector.

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Rudy’s teammates were unable to step it up enough to take Game 2, but within the friendly confines of Vivint Smart Home Arena and with plenty of confidence from two well-contested bouts in LA, that trend could very well change sooner rather than later.

It won’t be easy, but despite a disappointing showing in several areas in Game 2, the Jazz have done enough to put themselves in the very favorable situation that as long as they defend home court, they will advance to the second round of the playoffs.

All things considered (the Rudy injury of course topping the list), that’s not a bad spot to be in at this point by any means.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com