Rebounding was supposed to be a Nuggets advantage.
After all, the Nuggets are big. Besides the beefy 7-foot Nikola Jokic in the middle, the Nuggets also have one of the best offensive rebounding power forwards in Paul Millsap, a 6-foot-10 small forward in Michael Porter Jr., a 6-7 shooting guard and a 6-4 point guard. At every position but center, the Nuggets are taller than the Jazz.
And that size advantage has shown in their rebounding throughout the season. The Nuggets ended the regular season as the second-best offensive rebounding team in the league, and in the fourth quarter, they got even better, collecting nearly a third of their misses. In crunch time, you could nearly always count on a backbreaking Nuggets second-chance basket.
Over the series though, it’s been the Jazz with the offensive rebounding advantage. It was especially evident in Game 1, when the Jazz had a 16-8 rebounding edge. And while the Nuggets ended up with a 13-11 advantage in Game 2, four of those Nuggets rebounds came on one empty possession. The Jazz led in the second-chance points category in both games.
It’s even actually been the Jazz turning it up late in games. In the third quarter of the two games so far, they’ve collected 44% of their own misses. In the fourth quarter, they’ve ended up with 46% of them. In other words, if the Jazz miss a shot in the second half, it’s nearly a 50/50 proposition if they’ll get another chance at it.
The deficit is enough to give Nuggets coach Mike Malone some stress. When asked about the number one thing his team could improve, Malone answered “rebounding.”
“I don’t know the number off the top of my head, but I know that when we outrebound our opponent, we’re a very tough team to beat,” Malone said.
I’ll help Malone out: the Nuggets are 32-9 when they outrebound teams this season. They’re 11-17 when they’re outrebounded.
How have the Jazz done it? It’s been a team effort on the glass. Center Rudy Gobert has only seven rebounds in each of the two games, well below his season and career averages. But the rest of the Jazz have been sensational: Royce O’Neale has gotten seven rebounds in each game. Donovan Mitchell had nine in Game 1, Juwan Morgan had seven too. And Tony Bradley has absolutely dominated the glass in his bench minutes, getting 16 total rebounds in only 22 minutes on the court.
“It’s something we have to do to win. It’s that simple,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “There is no way for us to individually rebound without having a collective purpose.”
That effort on the boards is something the Jazz know will be critical in getting wins in the series moving forward.
“It’s a point of emphasis for our team, especially with the way they crash the boards,” Gobert said. “I really think that we’ve been doing a great job. We’ve got to keep it going.”
