Jingles all the way
This week Slo Mo’ Joe averaged 14.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game. Since Conley initially was held out because of what we thought was a little hamstring tightness, he’s averaged 13.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 6.3 assists while shooting above 50 percent from the field and three point line.
He played a whopping 39 minutes in the win over Charlotte, and was hitting shot after shot in the fourth quarter. I put down an extra shot of energy as something Joe Ingles should wish for this Christmas, but it appears he’s already found it as a starter these past eight games.
https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/1208977686569213952
Prior to this season I thought Ingles and the Jazz would mutually benefit from him playing less minutes and getting less wear and tear throughout the 82 game regular season. For shooting percentages, Ingles was awful last playoffs and it carried over into the FIBA world cup and early regular season. I was expecting a decrease in minutes to result in an uptick in efficiency, but I was wrong.
If we are thinking about this long term, it isn’t the ideal situation to have Joe playing 35+ minutes in any regular season games, let alone against lesser opponents like Charlotte and Atlanta. He is 32 years old and will be an important piece of the puzzle when the Jazz are in the playoffs. Can a 32 year old really handle getting this much burn in December if he plans on peaking in April?
I’m worried this will come back to bite the Jazz in the butt this spring, but for now I’m enjoying my fixin’ of Joe Ingles blowing kisses to the crowd. He’s been the number one guy to step up in Mike Conley’s absence, and it looks like Utah has discovered he belongs in the starting lineup even when Conley returns.