Walker Kessler coming off the bench was a bold move but it worked for the Utah Jazz

Walker Kessler has returned to the Utah Jazz after missing several games due to injury and the second-year big man returned in a big way. Coming off the bench for the Jazz, Kessler had 11 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks, and a steal all in 21 minutes. He was playing as the relief to starting center Omer Yurtseven who was less impressive with his box score (six points, seven rebounds) but he also had two blocks and a steal.

This was an unexpected outing for Yurtseven, who has been riding the pine for most of the season, but it was standard fair for Kessler. Or at least what we expect from Kessler. Seeing him come out and dominate at times was exactly what fans were hoping to see from the big. Sure, he wasn't the paint cleaner we had hoped for in his first game back, as he was out of position a time or two but he did play really well.

He also just so happened to not play with guys like Kris Dunn, Ochai Agbaji, or Simone Fonteccho all that much, which of course is going to hurt your figures when you're perimeter players aren't great at defending. But the Jazz held the Pelicans, granted who were short-handed, to just 100 points. That has only happened one other time this season, when the Jazz held a team to 100 points or fewer and that was against the Portland Trail Blazers.

While the fact that the Pelicans didn't have Zion Williamson or C.J. McCollum helped the Jazz look better on defense, we can't dismiss the fact that the Jazz's defense allowed two hapless squads in the Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies to drop 120+ points on them. So it's not like the team hasn't struggled against lower competition all season. Seeing them actually stop a team, regardless of who was on or off the court was something the team needed to do to breathe some life into everyone.