At some point, we may all have to stop calling this a hot streak.
To say the Utah Jazz played dominant basketball on Tuesday night is underrating the performance. They were beyond dominant in defeating the Detroit Pistons 110-79 before a sellout crowd at Vivint Smart Home Arena in a contest where the Jazz led by as many as 39 points and essentially decided it on the opening tip.
They’ve now pushed their record to 38-30 on the season. They’ve now won 19 of their last 21 games. They have the NBA’s best defense and they are finding the offensive rhythm they caught in the weeks before the All-Star break.
So, maybe the evidence strays away from the Jazz simply catching fire through an advantageous portion of their schedule.
Maybe they simply have become a very good basketball team.
“A hundred percent, I think,” Utah guard Donovan Mitchell said. “I think the biggest thing is staying together, staying focused and not worrying about the outside noise. I think if we can do that and stay connected, I think we will be fine.”
After a slow start post All-Star break where the Jazz lost two of their first three, they’ve now won seven consecutive games. They’ve won five straight games by double-digits, and they’ve rediscovered an offense that sputtered two weeks ago.
On Tuesday night, Utah never allowed Detroit a chance. The Jazz scored 11 of the first 14 points. They never trailed, and they turned in one of their best first-quarter performances of the season.
By the end of 12 minutes, Utah led 42-21. The Jazz were 17 of 21 from the field and 6 for 9 from 3-point range. They did it simply, yet explosively. They often ran pick and roll action with Joe Ingles and Rudy Gobert, and put the Pistons in position where they were forced to pick their poison.
If the weak-side defender didn’t offer help, Ingles or Ricky Rubio found Gobert for a dunk. If that defender took away Gobert’s roll to the rim, Ingles and Rubio simply found a wide-open shooter camped in the corner.
“I think the first few games after All-Star break are tougher than any other time of the year,” Ingles said. “It was going to take time, because we had a week off from seeing each other and going through our routine. I think we got back into the flow quickly. I’m glad we didn’t lose three or four or five games.”
The Jazz have found a groove that few teams in the league outside of Golden State, or Houston, or Toronto or Boston have been able to reach. Since Gobert’s return to the lineup, the Jazz have posted a 95.8 defensive rating. The Raptors are second at 101.
(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) throws down a dunk during the Utah Jazz versus Detroit Pistons at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City Tuesday March 13, 2018.
Rubio has improved significantly. Mitchell and Gobert have blossomed into bona fide stars. Ingles has settled into perhaps the most valuable role player on the team. Royce O’Neale and Jae Crowder have provided Utah with toughness and shooting off the bench.
Against a reeling Pistons team — Detroit has now lost five of its last six games — the Jazz were able to give themselves a stress-free second half for the first time in a while. By the middle of the fourth quarter, the Pistons were barely running up the floor, and some in the crowd made a beeline for the exits in order to beat the postgame traffic rush.
Gobert scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while blocking two shots. He dominated the interior, and by the end of the third quarter, he was snaring boards and leading the fast break off the dribble.
Ingles was great all-around. He scored 17 points, while handing out seven assists and grabbing seven rebounds. Jonas Jerebko scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Crowder scored 14 points. Mitchell scored 13 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, while Derrick Favors scored 12 points.
Everyone who suited up played on Tuesday night. In all, the Jazz put six players in double figures.
“I think we’ve been well prepared and we’ve been unselfish as a team,” Favors said. “We’re playing good basketball, and we’re taking games seriously. If we keep playing hard, we can accomplish a lot of good things.”
For as well as the Jazz are playing, they can’t afford to let up in the Western Conference. They remain tied for the eighth and final playoff spot, while many of the teams they are in competition with won on Tuesday night.
But, the Jazz are playing their best basketball of the season at the right time. And the evidence is mounting that the improvement is no longer a mirage.
This may be who they are.
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