Game Thread Jun 16, 2021 08:00PM MT: Jazz vs. Clippers - Game 5

[Elizah Huge]

Nobody is arguing that our defense is perfectly fine with Gobert is on the court. I can't tell if you're being disingenuous because you care more about winning the argument than being right, or if you're truthfully that clueless. Either way, this is getting silly.

Our defensive rating in the last 3 games with Gobert on the court is 121.7 (really bad) and STILL over 20 points per 100 possessions better than when he's off the court.

As I already said, we're barely hanging on defensively when he's in, and completely fall off the cliff when he's out.

This is the equivalent of Mitchell not showing up on offense and averaging like 15 PPG but at least the offense is better with him in there. Would Mitchell not be getting a lions share of the blame?

 

[Elizah Huge]

When you demand a 5-year 205M contract you are expected to show up in the playoffs. Your entire game is built around being the man on defense and that’s how you got paid. When our defensive rating is 121.7 with you on the court you are going to get blamed.

 

[Sean]

The Jazz have gone through very hot and very cold stretches throughout this series. It has still averaged out to great offense. Not good - great. As in on par with Brooklyn's historically great offense in the regular season.

If there's lower variance and the stretches are more stable (less very hot and less very cold), and the offensive rating is still elite, the end result is the exact same and we still lose.

In the last three games, Utah's offensive strengths have been neutralized and it is a factor in why they're losing these games. You can't win when your offense is going cold for a full half of basketball and that's what we've seen these three games - not just inconsistencies throughout the game but ice-cold shooting for long periods of time.

Defensively, the Jazz are doing a poor job as well. But there have been such poor shot selection in these games that they can't seem to ever recover.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

When our defensive scheme is to funnel towards one player and that player is Favors we are ****ed.

Which is why I though we needed some scheme variance or just live with getting deep dicked while Rudy sits but get a stretch 5 option that opens up the offense even more... just try and outscore them when Rudy is off the floor.

 

[MTS]

This is the equivalent of Mitchell not showing up on offense and averaging like 15 PPG but at least the offense is better with him in there. Would Mitchell not be getting a lions share of the blame?

It's not the equivalent of that, because Gobert isn't the reason we're getting torched.

When you demand a 5-year 205M contract you are expected to show up in the playoffs. Your entire game is built around being the man on defense and that’s how you got paid. When our defensive rating is 121.7 with you on the court you are going to get blamed.

If Gobert is getting stretched out to the perimeter and is still the best defender on the team when targetted, but we're getting torched because nobody else can keep their man in front of them and Gobert can no longer be the safety net for them because he has to defend the perimeter... how is that Gobert's fault?

I agree with the premise that Gobert + a bunch of bad defenders who rely on him as a safety net isn't a winning recipe in the playoffs. What I don't agree with is the notion that Gobert himself is getting targetted and torched, and that he's a liability. In the possessions that he manages to get involved in defensively, we're having the most success. He's not killing us on offense - our offensive rating is Brooklyn Nets levels of good.

 

[Elizah Huge]

Which is why I though we needed some scheme variance or just live with getting deep dicked while Rudy sits but get a stretch 5 option that opens up the offense even more... just try and outscore them when Rudy is off the floor.

That makes too much sense. Zero chance of that happening.

 

[Jazzmix]

Rudy is great. But the problem is he is like 75 percent of our defense. It's like putting Dame on a team with defensive specialists who cant shoot like Shaq Harrison etc and judge him when he basically doesn't have any spacing at all and has to score 40 every game. Of course it would be easier to scheme against him than, double team him etc. However good one guy is you can always scheme against him.

 

[Elizah Huge]

Last thing I have to say here for now. Rudy can’t and never will win us a playoff game by himself. Mitchell can and has. We get swept 4-0 if he even just scores 25-30 points in Game’s 1 and 2. Think about that. Rudy’s contract is going to look so so so bad in 2-3 years.

 

[MTS]

Rudy is great. But the problem is he is like 75 percent of our defense. It's like putting Dame on a team with defensive specialists who cant shoot like Shaq Harrison etc and judge him when he basically doesn't have any spacing at all and has to score 40 every game. Of course it would be easier to scheme against him than, double team him etc. However good one guy is you can always scheme against him.

This is a fantastic comparison.

Rudy's "shortcomings" on defense this series are essentially like Mitchell's "shortcomings" on offense in the Rockets series.

 

[MTS]

Last thing I have to say here for now. Rudy can’t and never will win us a playoff game by himself. Mitchell can and has. We get swept 4-0 if he even just scores 25-30 points in Game’s 1 and 2. Think about that. Rudy’s contract is going to look so so so bad in 2-3 years.

The last playoff series we won was because Gobert nullified Westbrook at the rim which completely neutered OKC's whole offense.

 

[Ineptimusprime]

The last playoff series we won was because Gobert nullified Westbrook at the rim which completely neutered OKC's whole offense.

The last playoff series was won against Memphis.

 

[MTS]

The last playoff series was won against Memphis.

lol, dammit.

I mean before this year.