Utah Jazz-Miami Heat matchup: Can Favors wipe out Whiteside?
By Ryan Aston
Utah Jazz big man Derrick Favors faces another tough matchup in the frontcourt with the Miami Heat’s Hassan Whiteside.
In recent years, the big man bout between Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz and the Miami Heat’s Hassan Whiteside has been a matchup to watch around the Association. Along with DeAndre Jordan, Gobert and Whiteside are the players you think about when debating over the NBA’s premiere defensive centers.
With Gobert on the shelf, though, Derrick Favors will have to step in against Whiteside when the Jazz and Heat play on Sunday.
Favors has squared off with some top-flight bigs of late. Over Utah’s last three games, he’s faced Kevin Love, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic. The Jazz lost two of the three, but Favors handled the load about as well as one can.
He was plus-22 over that span as the Jazz held opponents to just 95.3 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. After a bit of a mid-December funk, Favors looks to be getting back up to speed.
Meanwhile, Whiteside has found himself in unfamiliar territory during fourth quarters since returning from a 13-game absence. Specifically, he’s spending them on the bench. Over the last five games, he’s spent just 11 minutes on the floor during the fourth quarter and overtime.
Things came to a head on Friday during the Heat’s game with the New York Knicks. Midway through the third quarter of the 107-103 OT win, Whiteside was replaced by James Johnson and never returned.
When the Jazz take the court at South Beach, Favors needs to force Heat coach Erick Spoelstra’s hand once again. The prevailing thought on Whiteside’s late benching is that it’s a matter of spacing offensively. Favors can’t allow the Heat to overcome that by letting Whiteside have a big night.
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Offensively, if he can get his mid-range game going and pull Whiteside out of the paint even a little bit, it could work wonders for the Jazz attack early.
Ultimately, the Jazz have a lot of things to clean up if they want to get back to winning. They need to defend better, they need to maintain focus and a sense of urgency for 48 minutes, they have the execute the offense and hit shots, etc. By wiping out Whiteside, Favors can do his team a big-time solid by not adding to the laundry list.
The Jazz and the Heat tip-off from American Airlines Arena at 1:30 p.m. MT.