This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Welcome back, Rudy Gobert.
Yes, the Utah Jazz's star center made his oficial return from a sprained MCL in Thursday night's loss to the Houston Rockets. But that was abbreviated Rudy Gobert, who played 15 minutes due to doctors orders.
Saturday night's 98-83 win over the Miami Heat? That was vintage Rudy Gobert. The Gobert who blocks shots, shuts down the lane defensively and gives the Jazz so much on both sides of the floor.
In essence, in front of an announced crowd of 19,911 at Vivint Smart Home Arena, it was Gobert's true return to form.
"I think Rudy gives everyone energy, there's a spirit that he has," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "He makes us a better team."
Gobert's stats were pedestrian: Nine points with five rebounds and four assists. But his impact on the game was undeniable. The Heat had issues scoring in the paint. Gobert throughly outplayed his counterpart Hassan Whiteside on both ends, and he was a big reason Miami shot 41 percent from the field.
And with Gobert taking care of things defensively, Gordon Hayward had his best game of the year, scoring a season-high 34 points, 18 in the third quarter alone. With Rodney Hood out on Saturday night, with Alec Burks out and with Derrick Favors still not fully healed from back spasms, Hayward took over in a way he hasn't all season.
He was aggressive going to the basket. Once he got some easy points, his jumper consistently found its aim, and he was able to get into an offensive rhythm for the first time in a few games. Hayward was masterful in the second half, scoring 23 of those 34 points.
"We just hit some shots," Hayward said. "Honestly, I'm tired. We needed this win. The fans were tremendous for us tonight, and we really appreciate it. We couldn't do it without them, especially with the way we've been beat up lately. It was a great win."
Utah snapped a three game losing streak by holding Miami to 34 points in the second half. With Chris Johnson garnering his first career start, the shooting guard scored 14 points on one end, and held Dwyane Wade to 3-17 shooting on the other. He added four rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots in 31 minutes.
The Jazz received 10 rebounds and three steals from Trey Lyles, who is improving by the day. The rookie power forward scored three points on 1-5 shooting, but left an indelible print on the game with his rebounding and defense.
As a result, Utah rallied in the second half and took control by the middle of the fourth quarter. There weren't many elaborate runs. Rather, the Jazz slowly wrested the game from the Heat and steadily built their biggest lead into the final score.
"Even in the first half, the way we weren't taking care of the ball, we weren't able to control the game the way we would've liked," Miami coach Erick Spoelstra said. "We allowed them to hang around and build some momentum. Then they started making some shots, and we weren't able to stop the avalanche in the last six minutes."
Chris Bosh led Miami with 24 points and seven rebounds, while Whiteside had 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Jazz received a big boost from their point guard play on Saturday night. Raul Neto scored 13 points and handed out five assists to go with three steals. Trey Burke came off the bench for 11 points on 4-8 shooting.
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Storylines
R The Jazz outscore Miami 53-34 in the second half.
• Utah shoots 55 percent from the field and makes 9 of 20 from 3-point range.
• The Jazz move to 16-20 on the season.