Obvious for some, a need for confirmation for others. Rudy Gobert, crowned three times best defender in the NBA, was sorely missed by the Utah Jazz, his franchise forever. In the absence of the French international pivot, the defensive shortcomings of his team came to light.
Four defeats for a single victory without Rudy
Absent from the field since January 7, the date of his entry into the Covid protocol, it is an understatement to say that Gobert has sorely failed in his frankness. 4th in the West, without the three-time best defender in the NBA, the Jazz posted a poor record of four losses for a single victory. Worse, on these five meetings, with 120.8 of defensive rating, the Jazz displays the worst defensive average of all the NBA. Admittedly, it is only about five matches, but these statistics show a little more, if it had to be proven, the essential contribution of the Frenchman who has displayed more than serious performances since the start of the season (15.5 points, 15.1 rebounds, 2.3 blocks on average).
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Before returning to the courts, Gobert did not fail subtly, without hitting his teammates too hard, to call everyone to order before attacking the second half of the season: “When I look at some of the other teams like the Suns and the Warriors, those guys are ahead of us in terms of winning habits, winning culture., explained the Frenchman. They take every game personally. Devin Booker smashes his ass in defense. I observed it, compared to two years ago. These guys, they totally buy in, and you can tell they take pride in playing hard defense and stopping their guy, doing whatever they can defensively to stop the other team and creating a victory culture. I don’t think we’re there yet. But I think we will reach that level. »
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?? #NBA75 | Defense of the Jazz this season…
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Traveling to Colorado on Sunday to face Denver, Gobert’s return will not be easy since he will face none other than the last NBA MVP, Serbian Nikola Jokic. And after the words, it will be necessary to assume on the ground. Finally, neither more nor less than what Gobert has been doing since the start of the season.
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