A 7-footer is now in the top 10 on the all-time Utah Jazz scoring list.
Entering the Utah Jazz’s regular-season finale on Sunday night, big man Rudy Gobert needed only three points to pass former guard Deron Williams at No. 10 on the franchise’s all-time scoring list.
The three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year already sat No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, on the Jazz’s all-time lists for rebounds and blocks.
Gobert finished with 18 points in the team’s 111-80 road blowout over the Portland Trail Blazers and now has 7,592 career points in regular-season action. Currently, the ninth-year Jazzman trails No. 9 Gordon Hayward by 485 points on the Utah scoring list.
In fairness to Hayward and Williams, both required fewer than eight seasons to compile their point totals with the Jazz.
Outside of Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, who stayed on the bench in Portland while dealing with a non-COVID illness, is the only active player among the top 10. Across five seasons in Salt Lake City, Mitchell has risen to No. 8 with 8,234 points; next season, he’ll need only 91 points to leapfrog No. 7 on the list, Pete Maravich.
Another efficient stat line from the Utah Jazz center
Against the Trail Blazers, Rudy Gobert shot 4-for-6 from the field and 10-for-14 from the charity stripe. He also added 13 rebounds and two blocks across his 30 minutes on the floor, marking his 53rd double-double in his 66 outings this season. And his plus-minus of +25 was higher than any other starter in the game.
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It’s worth noting that Gobert’s 15.6 points per game this season represents the second-highest average of his career, trailing only the 15.9 he put up in 2018-19.
Rudy Gobert and the No. 5 seed Jazz begin their 2022 NBA Playoffs quest against the No. 4 seed Dallas Mavericks. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series takes place at 11:00 a.m. MT Saturday in Dallas.
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