Utah Jazz: 2 duds and 1 stud from tough loss to Chicago Bulls

Utah Jazz stud: Rudy Gobert

Last night may have been bleak for the Jazzmen, but it wasn’t all gloom and doom. Rudy Gobert continued his tour of absolute rebounding dominance. Utah Jazz fans couldn’t pin the team’s overall shooting inefficiency on the Stifle Tower either: he finished this contest with 17 points on 7/9 shooting from the field, 3/4 shooting from the free-throw line, 19 rebounds and 3 blocks.

So far this season, Gobert has the appearance of a player who has achieved mastery within his role. He remains one of the NBA’s premier screen-setters, generating space for the Jazz with his size and verticality in the absence of a three-point shot.

Last night was no exception. Gobert was also largely responsible for a 4/19 performance from Chicago Bulls star center Nikola Vucevic, leveraging his length advantage to make Vooch’s night as difficult as possible.

Gobert’s extremely reliable play in comparison to teammates Donovan Mitchell and Jordan Clarkson is consistent with our expectations of each player in the context of their role. Scoring has always been less reliable than defense, rim-running and rebounding. Gobert’s regular dominance in the areas he’s responsible for is the primary cause of any Utah Jazz fan’s optimism.

It’s likely that both Mitchell and Clarkson will find their form as the season progresses, and when they do, it’s even more likely that Rudy Gobert will be ready.

One more time for the people in the back: Utah Jazz fans should not panic. They were inevitably going to lose games this season, and this is merely the first time that they did so. They’ll hope that both Donovan Mitchell and Jordan Clarkson can regain form in tonight’s contest against the Milwaukee Bucks.