The Triple Team: 3 thoughts on Jazz vs. Knicks


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SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 108-101 win over the New York Knicks from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Rudy Gobert's offensive game

Rudy Gobert had the best offensive night of his career Wednesday night on national TV against the New York Knicks. He scored 35 points, made 13 of his 14 shots (93 percent), and made nine of his 12 free throws. That one missed shot, a tip-in attempt that could have been ruled either way, was Gobert's first shot of the night. That means he made 13 straight baskets in a row.

Every single one of them was from within two feet of the basket. He had five baskets that came from offensive rebounds, five from rolling to the basket, one give-and-go where Gobert actually dribbled the ball up the court, one from a steal he made at half court, and one from waiting in the right area when another player posted. 12 of the 13 were standard big man stuff.

The difference is how good he's gotten at all of those things. You can get to 35 points against an iffy defense by taking all of your shots at the rim if you're an elite roller, mover, catcher and finisher. And Gobert's become exactly that.

Like, look at this play. Here, Gobert has to set an effective screen for Gordon Hayward, using his butt to create space for his man. That's called so rarely on off-the-ball screens that it makes sense to do, and Gobert's learned that. Then, once Hayward gets the ball, Gobert has to wait the exact perfect amount of time to roll to the rim, then take two giant steps, and finish with the dunk.

Lots of Gobert highlights coming for the Triple Team. First: Gobert rolls for a dunk after setting an off-ball screen. pic.twitter.com/UpeyPXVZ1e — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) March 23, 2017

Or another one: Gobert here dribbles the ball up the court, passes to Hill, catches an incredibly difficult pass on the run with one hand, pivots, waits for Kristaps Porzingis to go by him, and finishes with the reverse lay in.

Then, Gobert catches a hard pass and converts the reverse layup. pic.twitter.com/11oP74vlCp — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) March 23, 2017

Gobert couldn't have done this two years ago. At that point, I never imagined he'd get 25 points in a game, ever, let alone 35. After all, what were his offensive skills at that point? He couldn't catch, was an awkward mover, traveled all of the time, picked up fouls on offense and defense at a prodigious rate, and clogged up the offense by sometimes doing the right thing at the wrong time. Now, Gobert's learned all of that, and he's showing it.

“He’s gotten so much better offensively this year," Hayward said. "The biggest thing is his hands have improved. He’s able to catch the ball in traffic. His pivots have improved. He’s so big that if you don’t foul him, he’s going to dunk it. And from the free throw line, he’s gotten better."

And the scary thing? Gobert thinks he can do more. "I think I’m going to score more than 35 in my career. I’m going to keep getting better."

2. Rudy Gobert's rebounding

Rudy Gobert's rebounding total isn't all that impressive; 13 is a nice number for most bigs, but it is about his season average (12.8, which makes him fifth in the league). But picking up 11 offensive rebounds is legitimately unusual. Gobert is only the second player this season to get that many offensive rebounds (Jonas Valanciunas is the other, also with 11 in a game against the Boston Celtics).

And even crazier is the percentage of rebounds that Gobert ended up getting. There were only 15 times tonight when a rebound fell within 3.5 feet of Gobert (12 times on offense, three times on defense), and he got 13 of them. Had Gobert not been guarding the perimeter-oriented Porzingis all night, he would have had many more defensive rebounding chances and had a wildly impressive stat line on that end of the floor.

The NBA average of a rebound chances picked up is about 54 percent, Gobert got 87 percent tonight. And the NBA average of grabbing offensive rebound chances in particular actually rebounded by the offense is about 45 percent, and Gobert got 92 percent of those.

That is crazy. I've been looking at these rebound chance numbers every game since they were released two seasons ago, and I've never, ever seen anything like that.

So how does he do it? Obviously, length is the biggest factor. "You can't think that you're going to just semi-box him out. He's going to reach over the top of you. He's long," Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek explained.

But he also has started to do his homework much earlier on the glass. He's fighting for rebounding position even before this shot goes up, starting all the way at the free throw line.

Gobert also had to do his work early, boxing out from the free-throw line. pic.twitter.com/eJoUKFV5US — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) March 23, 2017

And finally, sometimes it's effort. Here, Gobert starts from behind Hayward when he shoots the ball, but goes all the way around, gets position, catches the ball facing the opposite baseline and below the hoop, then twists while raising the ball up enough for the dunk. This camera angle doesn't do it justice, but it might be the most impressive putback dunk I've ever seen. It doesn't seem like a human should be able to do it.

Here was Gobert's most athletic putback dunk of the night. pic.twitter.com/hid5u0N8FH — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) March 23, 2017

Gobert's effort on the offensive glass meant that the Jazz had 30 second chance points tonight. Gobert himself scored EIGHTEEN of those points, from either tip-ins he scored or times he was fouled and went to the basket after a rebound. Again, I can't stress this enough: these are absurd numbers.

"If he doesn't play that way, we don't win," Quin Snyder said after the game.

3. Rudy Gobert's defense

Oh, and we haven't talked about the best part of Gobert's skillset: his defense. He really is the best defensive player in the league. This is now his 40th consecutive game with a block, and his third consecutive game with four or more. No other player in the league has done either streak this year. He just terrified the Knicks at the rim, only allowing them to shoot 5-11 when he was there, and dissuading countless other shots.

You can't drive on him, because even if you have a step, he'll erase the shot.

Finally, Gobert blocked Kristaps Porzingis twice tonight: once on a driving layup attempt... pic.twitter.com/fOp7yBLH5d — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) March 23, 2017

And you can't shoot the ball against him, even if you are a gigantic 7-foot-3 unicorn named Porzingis, because Gobert is just that long.

...and once on a jump shot. Porzingis is 7-foot-3! pic.twitter.com/xB8FyLGzBs — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) March 23, 2017

Are you an old school Defensive Player of the Year voter? Do you like blocks more than anything else, and pine for the days of Marcus Camby? Well, you're in luck! Gobert leads the league in blocks, blocks per game, and percentage of shots blocked.

Are you a new school Defensive Player of the Year voter? Do you like it when a team's defense changes in a big way with a player on the floor, leading them to massive team success? Well, Gobert has the highest defensive Real Plus-Minus in the league (5.71 points per 100 possessions). To give you an offensive analogue, LeBron James' offensive Real Plus-Minus is 5.74 points per 100 possessions.

Gobert is a downright legitimate NBA star, a top-15 player in the league by nearly any metric. It's time to take note.

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