In February, the Jazz are 8-1, with their lone loss being a road
defeat at the hands of LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers. Impressive
wins over the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Warriors and Suns
all stand out, as the Jazz have finally turned it back on
recently.
If not for the bad luck in January with injuries, the national
conversation around Utah would feel very different right now.
“I think the biggest thing for us is that it feels different, it
looks different,” Mitchell said after Utah’s 118-114 win over the
Suns. "Like I’m excited because you walk off the floor and you feel
gassed, like everything was just let out by everybody. Everybody on
our bench was a plus in the plus/minus, like contributed something
well and did something positive and found ways to win every way
possible.
"Like it just feels different. I don’t have a word for it, but
just finding effort and competing, that’s the biggest thing,
whether it was one shot or two stops to knowing a play through the
nine, someone hustling back on defense, we dealt with the ball
three different times in one possession, like that’s what its going
to take, to get a win like tonight. It’s pretty solid and I think
we can continue to build on that as well.”
Mitchell is not the only one in Salt Lake City breathing a huge
sigh of relief with the Jazz’s latest turnaround effort.
Before losing 11 of those 13 games last month, Utah ranked top
five in both offensive (117.0 ORTG) and defensive efficiency (107.2
DRTG). Outscoring teams by 9.8 points per 100 possessions, the Jazz
were a well-oiled machine at one point that made it so hard for any
opponent to crack their code. With Mitchell’s scoring barrages
alongside Gobert’s special rim protection on the other end, Utah
already is one of the Association’s toughest outs on a nightly
basis.
Recently, those marks have bounced back up to best in the NBA
levels. Once that maintains, Utah is well on its way to securing
home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs. In the
meantime, it’s all about taking care of business prior to the
postseason, where the Jazz can finally prove of being more than a
regular-season juggernaut at times.
“I think in some ways, its affirming, you know its not
discounting that [Chris Paul] didn’t play, but regardless the way
that we played, the way we played the other night, that’s the
important thing,” Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said of the team
bouncing back strong. “The fact that you won, reinforces that,
which I think is important.
"To come off, like I said, I mentioned this in earlier of the
year, even though you have a roster that looks very similar, that
doesn’t necessarily mean your team is going to be successful
playing the same way and some of the adjustments and some of the
injuries, it’s taken us a while to evolve and sculpt a different
identity with different players and to have games like this, tough
games, close games against teams that are really good and really
disciplined and play defense, something that can help us and I
thought our execution down the stretch in particular was
solid.”
With the Jazz recapturing their momentum, there’s a quick way to
glance the advanced metrics to confirm this turnaround is
legitimate. The early-season Jazz are back and better than ever as
of late:
28-10 start: 117.0 OffRtg (1st), 107.2 DefRtg (5th),
+9.8 NetRtg (1st)
2-11 stretch: 110.2 OffRtg (22nd), 116.5 DefRtg
(25th), -6.3 NetRtg (25th)
8-1 surge: 121.2 OffRtg (1st), 108.7 DefRtg (4th),
+12.5 NetRtg (2nd)
This is no surprise, but the impact Gobert has on the Jazz’s
defense and overall system is incredible. Gobert’s game-changing
defense in drop coverage helps deter drives to the rim, making it a
tough task trying to weave around his lanky 7-foot frame along the
way. As you can see above, Gobert’s absence was felt in a huge
manner while he sat out last month. Now, with him and Mitchell
back, plus the Jazz improving their overall depth during this past
offseason, this team feels ready to roll for a deep postseason
push.
“I think more than the wins, just on Wednesday, the way we
compete defensively and the way we played together offensively, is
one thing we can take away and we know that when we play that way,
we’re going to be in a good shape every night,” Gobert said. “The
goal is to keep getting better and better.”
If this keeps up, not only will the Jazz get better and better,
but they will have a compelling argument to play spoiler atop the
Western Conference hierarchy in a few months.