This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Things haven't played out exactly as Rudy Gobert might have hoped for this season. After closing out last season as the NBA's top defense after the All-Star break, the shot-blocker extraordinaire Gobert had dreams of anchoring a lockdown defense, contesting everything and maybe even contending for a Defensive Player of the Year award as the Utah Jazz stifled team after team en route to the postseason.
But injuries, basketball's harsh reality, and perhaps regular old regression have kept the Jazz from parlaying their dominance at the end of last season into a consistently stingy campaign in this one.
"I think I'm below what I can do," Gobert said last week.
A week before that, amid a troubling losing streak, coach Quin Snyder was asking for more, too.
"We need to start defending at a higher level," he said. "This last part of the season, for us to make a little noise, that's got to take a step up."
Now, with their season on the line, Gobert and company seem to be answering that call. And while their path there might have been more difficult than they'd hoped, the Jazz find themselves clawing toward a position they thought they'd hold all along.
And they've been doing it with defense.
As of Friday, the Jazz were within a game of Houston and Dallas, seventh and eighth place in the West respectively, thanks to a four-game winning streak in which their defense has gotten back to keeping teams under 100 points. They held LeBron James and the Cavaliers to 85 points on Monday night and then turned around and held the Phoenix Suns to 69 points, the lowest for any Jazz opponent this season, on Thursday.
The Jazz aren't close to their late-season dominance of a year ago; they only allowed 94.8 points per 100 possessions after last year's All-Star break, compared to 101.5 in their nine games since this season's break. But they've still been the fifth-best defense in the league in those nine games, moving into a top-10 defensive ranking for the season.
"I think it's been there," shooting guard Rodney Hood said. "It hasn't been as consistent as last year after the all-star break, but it's been there. We've been playing really well. … I feel like we're hitting our stride at the right time and we've got to keep it going."
Hood added that the team's goal was to be in the top 5 by season's end.
"I think we're on track to do that," he said.
Jazz officials figured the team's defensive identity might take a hit when starting point guard Danté Exum was lost for the season with a torn ACL. The 6-foot-6 guard emerged last season as a plus-defender thanks to his size and speed, helping shut down penetration at the point of attack. But when Gobert suffered a knee injury in December that would keep him out for more than a month, the Jazz appeared to be in real trouble.
And while he has been back in the lineup since early January, it has taken the Frenchman a while to find his footing on his rehabilitated left knee.
"I'm feeling better than I was a few a months ago, a month ago," said Gobert, who has blocked the 10th-most shots in the league despite his lengthy absence. "It was different for me coming back, playing, still thinking about it a little bit. So I have to play different, maybe not as aggressive as a I was. But I'm feeling good now. I'm ready to go."
Gobert said he is no longer thinking about his MCL, only about getting back to doing what he does best. Gobert hasn't scored in double-digits in any of the Jazz's last seven games, but he hasn't had to in order to be effective. Against the Sacramento Kings, Gobert went scoreless but the Jazz still managed to outscore the Kings by 23 points in Gobert's 22 minutes on the floor.
The Jazz will need him to keep that up as they embark on a stretch of five straight road games. The Jazz like to say that "defense travels" and can be their advantage on the road, but Utah has been a full 17 points worse per 100 possessions away from Salt Lake City this season.
"We just need to come out a little more angry, more aggressive," Gobert said. "When we lost the games we lost, it's because we're too passive and too nice."
Twitter: @tribjazz —
Jazz at Bulls
P At United Center, Chicago
Tipoff • Saturday, 6 p.m.
TV • ROOT
Radio • 1280 AM, 97.5 FM
About the Jazz • Trailing Houston and Dallas by one game in the playoff hunt, the Jazz now head out for five straight road games. … Held Phoenix to a season-low 69 points on Thursday and moved to 21-0 when holding opponents to 90 points or fewer. … Gordon Hayward's status for Saturday is unknown after missing two games with a foot injury.
About the Bulls • Suffered an overtime loss to the Jazz earlier this season in Utah. … All-Star Jimmy Butler is back from a knee injury that kept him out for 14 of his team's last 15 games. He averages better than 22 points per game. … Coach Fred Hoiberg's club has been a bottom-10 defense since the All-Star break.