It’s been a familiar chant — from the bench, from the coaches, from the fans.
Shoot, Joe Ingles. Shoot.
With 15 field goal attempts on Saturday night in Utah’s 125-113 win, Ingles definitely fired. He knows that his willingness to shoot (or lack thereof) is a knock on him. But even as he scored 21 points to tie a career high, he said he’s going to continue to make the selection he’s been making.
“I’m not gonna force it,” he said. “I’m not gonna take bad shots. Like it or not, that’s the way it is.”
It was only the third time Ingles has attempted double-digit 3-pointers this season, and the first time since Dec. 5. And it was a good sign for Utah, which again surpassed the 115-point mark, that the veteran wing found ways to space the floor again.
It’s been a rough stretch: It was only Friday night that Ingles was moved to the bench for the first time all season. But back in the starting lineup, he seemed to find his rhythm just fine.
“When the ball sticks or stays on one side of the floor, we’re not gonna be as efficient,” coach Quin Snyder said. “We need the ball to move side to side, and when it does, Joe, he’s going to be the beneficiary a lot of times of that movement. He was ready to shoot, aggressive, and particularly early gave us a real lift.”
Even when he’s putting up numbers in the Jazz offense, Ingles has a way of blending in with the scenery. He’s a playmaker more so than a scorer, a facilitator rather than a bucket-getter.
All of which is to say that when Ingles goes through a slump, it’s not as obvious. But clearly he’s worn down: While he scored in double figures in 11 of his first 16 starts this season, he had notched double digits in only three of his previous 16 entering Saturday night. His 3-point percentage, which started at 48.7 percent in October, has fallen in every month of this season. In his first eight games of January, the deep-shooting stalwart was only hitting 35 percent of his threes.
It was partly with fatigue in mind that Snyder said he made the decision Friday to pull Ingles from the starting lineup in favor of Rodney Hood. Ingles is on pace to play at least 500 more minutes than he did last year.
“Joe’s been playing a lot of minutes — he’s been up over 30 minutes a lot,” Snyder said. “For any player that can be taxing over time. Especially when you’re that consistent and you’re posting every night. It’s something we’re aware of, but we haven’t have many choices about that.”
Again on Saturday night, the Jazz’s options were taken from them: With Hood out, Ingles had to start.
But although Ingles hasn’t been lighting up stat lines recently, something caught for him against the Clippers — his one-time team which has often brought out the best in him. Between the last four minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half, he hit six of his eight looks.
A good Ingles is usually a good omen for the Jazz: He shoots six percentage points higher in wins, and adds a few more points — not that he’s counting. He said he wants to keep the offense flowing, and isn’t looking to jack up shots for himself.
But teammates are paying attention. When asked if he wanted Ingles to shoot more, center Rudy Gobert said yes, of course he does.
“Hopefully he can do it every game,” Gobert said. “Except when I’m on the court. When I’m on the court, pass.”
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