Utah Jazz: Scattered thoughts about a great opening night

The Starters

Joe Ingles was, simply put, Joe Ingles. What a solid stat line from the “do-it-all” Aussie as he put up 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field including 3-of-5 from deep, five rebounds, six assists, two steals and zero turnovers. That kind of versatility and stat stuffing is what got him paid over the offseason and I can’t wait to see that trend continue all year long.

Derrick Favors was an overall positive. His stat line of 14 points on 7-of-14 shooting doesn’t overwhelm, but it also doesn’t disappoint like so many did last year. As much as we’d all love to see Favors get back to his 16-8 ways or even exceed that, the fact of the matter is that Utah’s scoring is very much by committee now and if he’s in double figures with a solid shooting percentage and doing other things to help his team win, that’s exactly what the Jazz need.

Rudy Gobert’s stat line was phenomenal minus a pair of interesting flaws. He put up 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting while going a perfect 4-of-4 from the line and grabbing 10 rebounds and it seemed like he was barely scratching the surface of what he could do on a nightly basis. That’s the good. The bad – he had a team-high six turnovers and unbelievably enough was a -14 on the night.

Of course, plus/minus isn’t always the most reliable stat, but it was still interesting to see Gobert end up on the wrong end of it. He had some electrifying defensive moments, but honestly the contest against Denver wasn’t his most impressive performance. I’m not worried though as I’m confident he will right the ship very soon and the positives about his play on Wednesday dramatically outnumber the negatives.

Donovan Mitchell wasn’t supposed to start, but thanks to some gastric distress from Rodney Hood, he was inserted into the starting lineup earlier than any of us could have predicted. Quite honestly, a lot of the time he looked like a rookie out there – forced shots, subpar decision making, etc. But the fact of the matter is that’s absolutely expected, but I predict that we’ll see less and less of that as the year goes on.

What was really special about Mitchell was the fact that he looked fearless and confident on the court. His athleticism and skill are undeniable and as he gets accustomed to honing those effectively, he’s going to be hard to stop. And despite the fact that he shot just 3-of-11, his plus/minus of +22 just goes to show that Utah fared pretty well when he was on the court. And I imagine he’s just going to get a whole lot better each and every game.

Ricky Rubio’s shooting was, as is largely expected, subpar. However, his 10 assists and brilliant pushing of the pace in opportune moments were right on cue. I’m optimistic that Ricky’s going to get a good grip on this offense and he’ll simply make the team hum and I simply can’t wait for that to come together.