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Looking for a way — any way really — to slow down the Clippers last night, Jazz coach Quin Snyder went with a combination we've only seen once before this season.
Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert had played just one minute together this year before Saturday night. Against the Clippers, they played six minutes together.
"I just thought from a matchup standpoint … those two guys gave us some length in the game and provided a little more disruption for their guys, whether it be [Blake] Griffin or some of the other guys attacking the rim," Snyder said. "They're a big, long, athletic team."
The sample size is obviously quite small, but Gobert and Favors did provide some defense. In their six minutes on the court together, the combo had a defensive rating of 78.7. For the game, the Jazz had a defensive rating of 126.4.
Given the success in that small dose, is that a combination Snyder might rely on more often throughout the year?
"I'm not sure to be honest with you," he said after Saturday's 112-96 loss. "Obviously you guys are asking the question because we haven't seen it up until this point a whole lot, maybe at all. But it seemed appropriate. We're trying to figure out way to give ourselves a boost. It gives us a very different look. Derrick's all of a sudden guarding out on the perimeter. He's pretty good inside too. I think it just depends on who we're playing."
— Aaron Falk