On Sunday night, the Utah Jazz played with the energy and passion of a week apart.
On Sunday night, the Utah Jazz acted like a team on the brink of losing five straight, a team that knew it needed a win to avoid such an outcome.
On Sunday night, Rudy Gobert returned to the Utah Jazz line-up. This also helps a little.
The Jazz desperately need this victory over the Denver Nuggets 125-105, which also bodes well for the Jazz's roster and fan base. It shows that the Jazz can muster extra strength when they need to win. They still know how to defend. They were able to respond to criticism from inside and outside, despite losing a significant portion of the squad in the fight against COVID-19.
Coherence will remain a problem until it is no longer a problem. After losing to ugly games like the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons, those thoughts of losing won't automatically dissipate. Now that we've seen the importance Gobert has to this team and the difference he brings to the Jazz off the court and off the court, the team may want to protect him with bubble wraps in every game.
On Sunday night, the Jazz turned the tide in one fell swoop. They made it to levels the Nuggets couldn't reach, even as Nikola Jokic played a monster-like triple-double (25 points, 15 rebounds and 14 assists). And in the fourth quarter, the Jazz proved their overall depth and talent, which all meant the team could catch their breath.
Gobert said: "We knew we could be such a team. It's great to see that we can inspire another gear and we have to hold that mentality every night. ”
"Tonight's game is important for us and we have to play the right way. It's been a long season and we know that everything isn't always perfect. We know we're going to have some tough challenges, but if we can keep getting better, we'll be in good shape by the playoffs. It's exciting to see that we have the ability to do it. So we need to keep developing good habits. ”
On Friday, Gobert noted after training that both the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors have shown a habit of marking the boundaries of championship contenders, and it is precisely these habits that he is challenging. The assessment appears to be directed at Donovan Mitchell, who didn't want to talk about it after Saturday's training.
"When I see other teams, like the Suns and warriors, they're one step ahead of us in terms of winning habits." Gobert said after lifting the health and safety agreement, "I feel like they put every game at heart, Andwin Booker fought defensively. Players like this throw themselves into it and you can see that they are proud of defending and stopping the opposing players. Doing everything possible to stop the opposing team defensively became part of the winning culture. I don't think we've reached that step yet, but we're going to get there. ”
But it's an obvious challenge for everyone from Gobert to the outside. Defending, rotating, protecting the ball, and having communication outside of basketball. Isn't that a bit harsh? Maybe. Is Gobert lying? The Pacers and Pistons scored 250 points on the Jazz's head in 72 hours. People don't realize that challenges are happening all the time in the locker room, so Gobert's remarks are not atypical except that they are spoken out in public. Mitchell did the same thing after the Pistons' loss, saying by and large that the Jazz were unlikely to win the championship the way they played the way they currently play.
The Jazz have underperformed over the past few weeks, and that's indisputable. The Suns, Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies have done better. And without a little more defense, the Jazz won't be able to get where they want to go. What if Gobert's remarks infuriated some people, and those "challenges" were answered that night? This can be understood as a good thing. The point is not to do it once, twice, or even three times. Habits are a pattern that you usually don't deviate from. In Sunday night's win over the Nuggets, it's one thing to excel on both ends of the floor. Doing this night after night and letting that be a precursor to the playoffs is another matter.
Donovan Mitchell said, "We communicated tonight, we played against the Nuggets recently, which helped us a lot, so we're a little familiar with them. Obviously, Gobert's return has helped us, but tonight we supported each other. Our rotation was great and we knew we needed to reach the game tonight. You don't want to lose 5 games in a row. We didn't play well as a team, so we had to do it our way and we had to keep doing it. We must do so all the time. ”
The Jazz's game against the Nuggets showed their strength on the court. A word of caution: The Jazz's defensive efforts are consistent with the teams' efforts in the playoffs. In other words, during the regular season, you're unlikely to expect the team to have that level every night. After all, this is almost impossible physically.
However, when the Jazz desperately need a win, they have the ability to block a good team on the road that is winning back. They perform well in almost every area. Gobert was a blast in his first game of return. He scored 18 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, and 2 blocks, and he had a plus-minus of +36 on the court.
Mitchell scored a game-high 31 points. He found his point and scored several beautiful goals. His dribble shattered the Nuggets' defense. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 21 points. Defensively, the Jazz improved as the game progressed, and they hit a 17-0 surge between the third and fourth quarters to beat the Nuggets.
"I think the ball shifted tonight." Jazz coach Quinn Snyder said, "It starts at the defensive end and the defense allows us to fight back. We had a time when we played well on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. Rudy was really excellent. ”