The Utah Jazz entered yesterday’s game with the Portland Trail Blazers without their offensive fulcrum in Donovan Mitchell. They were still favored to take home the win, but the odds were slimmer than they could have been. Luckily, several members of the team rose to the occasion to secure a 120-105 victory.
The usual suspects made their expected impact. Rudy Gobert finished with 22 points on 8/10 shooting from the field, along with 14 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Jordan Clarkson continued rounding into form, finishing with 19 points on an efficient 8/16 shooting from the field. Jazz fans should be encouraged to see him hit his stride as we approach the midway point of the 2021-22 season.
Bojan Bogdanovic was solid, chipping in 15 points on 6/14 shooting. Mike Conley didn’t have his best performance, with 15 points on 5/13 shooting from the field. However, the veteran point guard did contribute 6 assists with a mere two turnovers.
The Utah Jazz were largely able to lean on their best remaining players in this contest. However, what really secured this game were the contributions made by the team’s role players.
Utah Jazz lean into depth to secure victory
Rudy Gay seems to have two modes as a member of the Utah Jazz. On some nights, he’s conservative in his shot selection, functioning as a solid defender and reliable floor spacers. On other nights, he turns the clock back to 2004. Last night was one of those nights.
Gay finished with 21 points on 24 minutes. He shot 8/13 from the field and 3/7 from downtown. His constant threat to score from the perimeter opened up inside opportunities for Rudy Gobert, Hassan Whiteside and every Utah Jazz guard. It was a big part of how the Jazz outscored the Blazers in points in the paint by a total of 74-30.
Speaking of Whiteside, he wasn’t going to let Gay have all the surprise contributor fun. He chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Utah Jazz dominate interior
Without taking anything away from Whiteside, there was another reason he was able to put up those stats in a mere 19 minutes. The Portland Trail Blazers were missing Jusuf Nurkic, and therefore played this entire contest without a conventional center.
That’s particularly challenging against these Utah Jazz. Opponents expect to be dominated by Rudy Gobert when facing off with the Jazzmen, but the Blazers didn’t even employ a viable matchup for Whiteside in last night’s contest. The Jazz may have been down Mitchell, but situationally, it’s arguable that Nurkic’s absence put the Blazers at an even greater disadvantage.
With this victory, the Utah Jazz improved to 25-9. They stand two games behind both the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference standings. They’ll hope to narrow that gap against the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow evening.