Key #1 – Play suffocating defense
We all knew coming into this season due to the make-up of the team that the Jazz were going to struggle to put up points. What most of us didn’t foresee, however, was that Utah would struggle on defense. Unfortunately, despite a roster that many felt would make up the most intimidating defense in the league, the Jazz have been less than solid on that end of the court.
The Jazz are fifth in the league in opponent points per game (101.1) which isn’t bad in and of itself, but it’s a significant step down from last season and isn’t all that great considering how slow the Jazz play which by nature tends to help them keep opponent points down. What’s perhaps even more telling is their defensive rating which just so happens to be seventh in the league (102.1), a respectable mark in and of itself.
However, in the last six games that Utah has been without Rudy Gobert, they’re 22nd in the league with a defensive rating of 106.9. It’s been a struggle for them to stop anybody and with their lack of offensive firepower, they simply haven’t been able to make up for their bad defense in any way.
https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/933039927209500672
Fortunately, the Bulls (much like the Jazz) are a team that has struggled to score this season. They’re just 29th in the league in points per game (95.5) and in offensive rating (95.1). Therefore, if the Jazz can dig down deep and find some semblance of their former bullish (no pun intended) defense, they should be able to completely stop a severely offensively challenged Bulls team.
This is likely to be a low-scoring affair, but if Utah can suffocate Chicago to the point where scoring becomes even more difficult for them than usual, then the Jazz should be able to find some way to produce enough offense to top the Bulls.