Utah Jazz-Wizards react: Ekpe Udoh leads bounce-back effort

Following a hard-fought loss in South Beach, Ekpe Udoh led the Utah Jazz to a bounce-back win over John Wall and the Washington Wizards.

Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unlikely of places. Such was the case on Wednesday night when the Utah Jazz squared off with the East’s No. 5 squad, the Washington Wizards.

With Derrick Favors being held out

as the team works to trade him

with an ankle injury, Ekpe Udoh was thrust into Utah’s starting five for just the third time this season. The 3.2 points per game-scoring former “draft bust” responded by leading the Jazz to a 107-104 win at Capital One Arena.

In 33 minutes of play, Udoh scored a season-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting. All seven of those buckets were big for the Jazz, but Udoh’s biggest contributions came via defense, rebounding and hustle plays. His nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks loomed large over John Wall and Co.

https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/951286650327285761

After the game, Jazz coach Quin Snyder gave Udoh and some other unlikely Jazzmen a lot of credit for their impact. From the Deseret News —

"“Ekpe was terrific,” Snyder said. “His activity defensively was (great). Jonas hadn’t played in a couple of game, but his rim-running, something as simple as hustling and running to the rim really opening things up for us. Obviously I have confidence in Royce O’Neale . . . and I thought he gave us a big lift tonight.”"

Of course, hardcore Jazz people probably weren’t surprised by Udoh’s incredible effort in this game. When the Jazz were healthy earlier this season, he was a plus/minus maven and the team was winning games. Moreover, the defense that helped him become the Euroleague Finals MVP last year has been on-point since his first day in Utah.

His long-term prospects with the Jazz remain unclear; will he continue to get minutes once Rudy Gobert and/or Derrick Favors return? Can he be Gobert’s back-up? Maybe he gets dealt to a contender or is allowed to walk after this season.

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In any case, the Jazz should continue to rely on him while they’re banged-up in the frontcourt. Good things tend to happen when he’s on the floor.

Big night for O’Neale

Elsewhere in the unlikely places department, Royce O’Neale also came up aces against the Wiz. Utah’s 15th man was plus-10 in just 13 minutes on the floor. Along the way, he was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field for 10 points.

None of those shots were bigger than this fourth-quarter triple that helped extend the Jazz lead at the time —

BOTTOM @BucketsONeale00 #NBAVote #UTAatWAS https://t.co/9XabiRiecH
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 11, 2018

Like Udoh, though, O’Neale’s biggest impact has come defensively. Through the Wizards game, the Jazz allow just 94 points per 100 possessions when O’Neale is on the floor. On the season, his net rating of 17.4 leads the team (excluding Naz Long’s one-minute sample size net).

Clearly, he’s a rotation player in the NBA.

Briefly

Ricky Rubio was huge for the Jazz. He played a team-high 41 minutes and also led Utah with 21 points. It was the kind of night he had to have to counteract Wall’s big-time effort. When Rubio is knocking down shots, the search-dribble is working and he’s energizing his team, the Jazz are hard to beat.

Utah’s bench outscored Washington’s 35-16; that’s huge given the injury-depleted roster. Joe Johnson was key here, continuing his resurgence to the tune of 16 points and three triples.