Utah Jazz vs. Toronto Raptors key matchup: D-Favs battles Ibaka

If the Utah Jazz hope to stop the daunting Toronto Raptors on Monday night, they’ll need Derrick Favors to assert his will against Serge Ibaka.

The Utah Jazz will be without Donovan Mitchell when they face the Toronto Raptors on Monday night, and it’s entirely possible that the Raptors could be without Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi sat out Sunday night’s contest against the Los Angeles Lakers after tweaking his foot Friday in the contest against Phoenix. He’s been listed as a game-time decision.

Whether Leonard plays or not, the Jazz are going to have their hands full with a deep and sturdy Raptors team that manhandled the Lakers despite missing their best player. The team has looked stout on both ends and is off to an exhilarating start this season. And while both Leonard and Kyle Lowry, whose impact has been phenomenal this season and vastly underrated, will be tough covers, the matchup I’m most looking forward to is the one between the power forwards – Derrick Favors and Serge Ibaka.

Ibaka is having a solid season thus far, averaging a career-best 18.1 points per game while shooting 56.8 percent from the field. He’s struggled quite a bit to find his shot from the perimeter where he’s converted on only 20.8 percent of his attempts, but he’s still enough of a stretch threat to keep opposing defenses honest.

He’s also leading his team in blocks with 1.4 per contest and pulling down 7.6 rebounds per game while posting the fourth best net rating on the team among players who have appeared in at least two games. He went off in a big way on Sunday night, punishing the Lakers to the tune of 34 points on an astounding 15-of-17 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds and an unbelievable mark of plus-32.

That explosion has skewed his season averages somewhat at this early juncture, but there’s still no debating that he’s off to an incredible start. Fortunately, I think he’ll be hard-pressed to replicate his rim-dominating performance from the game against LA in Salt Lake City. While the Lakers struggle at interior defense, the Jazz have two of the best rim protectors in the league in Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors, the latter of which figures to be matched up against Ibaka for much of the night.

Favors isn’t off to nearly the start that Ibaka is, but he’s still had some solid flashes. He’s currently averaging just 10.9 points per game on 50.7 percent shooting from the field and a forgettable 16.7 percent from deep. Though D-Favs continues to try to extend his range, he isn’t nearly the threat from the outside that Ibaka is.

Nevertheless, Favors is still a stalwart defender that will likely give Serge problems throughout the contest. Although Ibaka has more burst than Favors and a little more refined offensive game, Derrick’s defensive discipline ought to help slow him down.

The bad news is that Ibaka is a solid defender himself that could very well force Favors into a long night offensively. Derrick has yet to have what I’d consider an explosive offensive outing, save perhaps his showing in the regular season opener against the Sacramento Kings, so it would be nice to see him get going.

With Donovan Mitchell out of commission for the contest, the rest of the Jazz are going to have to step up big-time. What better player to do just that and serve as an X-factor of sorts than Favors? He’s well overdue for a big game, and his ability to both contain Ibaka as well as contribute to Utah’s often clunky offense will be a major factor in this game.

The Jazz have several opposing players they’ll need to keep an eye on that can cause major damage, including Kyle Lowry, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and pretty much the entire Raptors rotation. However, if second-leading scorer Serge Ibaka can be held in check, it could go a long way in allowing the Jazz to steal the game.

I’m feeling less than optimistic about the Utah Jazz’s chances, but a dominant performance from Favors could go a long way in halting a prolific and well-rounded Raptors team. These two teams tip-off Monday night at 7:00 PM MT within Vivint Smart Home Arena.