The Pistons are the jazz's last opponent in a five-game game, and for the Jazz, who have already suffered two straight losses, this is a great opportunity to get out of the game. Unfortunately, the Jazz overturned in the gutter and eventually lost to the Pistons 116-126, suffering three consecutive defeats. The Jazz's current record is 28-13, ranking third in the West, but the fourth-place Grizzlies have won nine consecutive games, with a record of 28-14, which is only a small gap with the Jazz. Moreover, the Jazz's future opponents are the Cavaliers, Nuggets, and Lakers, and if they are not careful, they will be overtaken by the Grizzlies.
Against the Pistons, the Jazz scored in double figures with six members of the team, and the overall performance was quite good, but the Pistons' Cade Cunningham and Sadiq Bay both scored 29 points efficiently, and four others scored in double figures, performing better than the Jazz, so they won the game. In the last 12 games, the Jazz have gone 8-4, including a six-game winning streak and a two-game winning streak, but have recently suffered three straight losses. There appears to be a faulty decline in the record, as this is the first time the Jazz have suffered a three-game losing streak this season.
There is no doubt that the first three consecutive defeats are a relatively accidental thing, especially for the Jazz, which has a relatively stable record. So, what's the problem? The answer, perhaps simple, is Rudy Gobert's absence. Gobert has been absent from games since Nov. 6 because of the health and safety agreement, and in the four games he has missed, the Jazz have only achieved a 1-3 result, and the past three games have been difficult to win.
It is said that in the past three games, the Jazz's opponents are not strong, the Raptors, Pacers and Pistons, only the Raptors are playoff-level teams, but only seventh in the East, the Pacers and Pistons are third and second in the East, respectively. So, the Jazz's performance in the last three games has been very bad. And this, in fact, is the impact of Gobert's absence.
Looking at the Raptors' game against the Jazz, the Raptors shot 45 percent and 29.3 percent from three-point range in that game, respectively, not as good as the Jazz's 48.1 percent and 44.7 percent. However, the Raptors grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in the whole game, which is 12 more than the Jazz, and it should be noted that the Jazz have only been robbed of 10 offensive rebounds per game this season, while the Raptors' offensive rebounds have almost doubled. Such offensive rebounds allowed the Raptors to beat the Jazz 100-81 in terms of shots, thus compensating for the slightly lower shooting percentage.
Looking at the Jazz and Pacers game, the Jazz's shooting percentage and three-point shooting rate in that game were 47.6% and 42.9%, respectively, which was still a pretty good performance, but the opposite Domintas Sabonis broke out, and he had 42 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists on 18-of-22 shooting, which was simply like no one. Sabonis Jr. is the big forward position, he is basically working on the inside, and in the game against the Jazz, he scored 42 points, which is actually the impact of Gobert's absence, and the Jazz have no way to limit Sabonis Jr.
Then there was the loss to the Pistons, the key to the Jazz's loss in this game was that their three-pointers were not opened, shooting 11 of 33 from 33-point range, shooting only 33.3% of the time, while they did not limit the opponent's three-pointers, and the Pistons shot 19 three-pointers with a 51.4% shooting rate. There may be fans who say that Gobert rarely defends beyond the three-point line, and whether the loss has nothing to do with his absence? In fact, Gobert is the player with the most cover assists in the league, and his cover quality is extremely high, and it is the key to the projection of three points by Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson and others, and once his cover assist is missing, the shooting rate of the above three-point pitchers will be affected. A game or two may be difficult to see, but over time, the effect will become apparent.
Gobert is at the heart of the Jazz's defensive system, shooting 65.1 percent from the box throughout the season, but improved to 68.9 percent during a three-game losing streak. At the same time, Gobert's defensive coverage is relatively large, especially the interference with the opponent's mid-range projection is more, so the Jazz will let the opponent do more mid-range projection, their opponent averages 13.7 shots from mid-range per game, the second highest in the league, but the Jazz limit the opponent's mid-range shooting rate to 41.8%. However, during the three-game losing streak, the Jazz opponent averaged 14 shots from mid-range per game, with a shooting rate of up to 50%, which shows the decline in defensive quality.
The Jazz gave Gobert a big five-year, $205 million contract in the summer of 2020, when many fans questioned whether Gobert's contract would become a premium contract. In fact, Gobert does lack self-defense, but Gobert's cover, defense and descent are all very much needed places for the Jazz, and Gobert is another guarantee for their offense when Mitchell and others are affected. So, don't say that Gobert is not worth 205 million, his influence on the Jazz is not reflected in the data.
Text/Duncan's laugh