'We all got his back': How the Jazz helped Walker Kessler break out of his mini-slump

Welcome to the season, Walker Kessler.

Kessler broke out of his early-season slump with a 22-point double-double Monday in Denver. The bad news: It still wasn't enough against the defending champions. But that couldn't keep the relieved and sheepish grin off Kessler's face.

He was back.

After seemingly not being able to catch the ball, Kessler was 10-of-11 from the field — with just about all those coming off passes from teammates or putbacks — and had 13 rebounds.

"I think that everyone has a rough patch, whether that's on the court or life in general," he said. "So it's just not letting it beat you, staying positive. My teammates and coaching staff have done an unbelievable job of supporting me, (along with) my family, friends. There's a lot worse things, obviously, than three bad games in the NBA."

One of those (albeit minor) things: four straight bad NBA games, but Kessler was able to avoid that.

It was a night and day difference for the center who was named to the All-Rookie team last season. He ran the floor hard and beat Denver's defense down the court for easy buckets. He attacked the glass and earned hard-fought rebounds. And, maybe most importantly, his teammates got him involved.

"Walker needs our team to pass for him to be effective," Jazz coach Will Hardy said.

It's no secret that Utah isn't running many plays for Kessler. The Jazz aren't going to have him post up and let him go to work down low. Where Kessler shines is as a roll threat or drop-off option in the dunking spot. Utah has also used him sparingly as a slasher and a spacer in the corner.

All those things have something in common: He needs the offense to execute for him to be involved. On Monday, especially in the second half, the Jazz started executing. Gone were the seemingly never-ending aimless drives into the paint; in their place there were quick passes, cuts and aesthetically-pleasing basketball.

Kessler was just one of the many beneficiaries of that.

"It's on his teammates to make the reads to get him the ball," Hardy said. "I think Talen (Horton-Tucker), in particular, did a very good job in the second half getting downhill and finding Walker for some lobs and drop-offs behind the defense. And that's what Walker needs to be effective offensively right now."

He was effective against Denver.

After averaging just 5.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in the first three games of the season, Kessler looked a lot more like himself. He delivered quick reverse dunks to beat the helping defender, used reverse layups to avoid a shot blocker, and was consistently a threat at the rim.

There was even a time where he got scored on in the paint — hey, Nikola Jokic is a hard man to stop — and then beat everyone back down court for a bucket of his won.

That type of effort is how he broke out of his mini-slump.

"I know what to do. Just run hard, play hard — kind of fall back on that," he said. "My teammates did a great job of making sure I got the ball in the right opportunities. It was a lot of fun. Obviously, not fun to lose, but while we did lose the game, we won the second half. I think that this team, if we play that hard, we have a lot of potential."

And to meet that potential, it'll take Kessler producing like he did Monday. His teammates understand that, and that's why they rallied around him after his slow start to the year.

"We've all got his back," Lauri Markkanen said. "I told him just to focus on the little things and try to enjoy playing. I think every professional athlete has gone through it at some point of their career, and I think it was good to see Walker kind of break out of it."

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