Gobert reminds Utah fans what they used to have — a good defense — in Jazz loss to Wolves

MINNEAPOLIS — Rudy Gobert feels different in his second season in Minnesota. He's no longer adjusting to a new home, a new team and a new organization.

"I'm a little more settled now," Gobert said with a smile before the game.

After an up-and-down adjustment year, Gobert seems to be in a better place — both off the court and on it.

"It's almost like everything is on another level now," he said.

His former team found that out first hand Saturday. That dominant Gobert-led defense the Jazz grew so accustomed to in his nine seasons showed up for Minnesota in the second half as the Timberwolves routed the Jazz 123-95 at Target Center.

As for the Jazz, it showed how far it is from being that type of team. Utah dropped to 2-5 on the season, and as the games pile up something is becoming clear: The Jazz are one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

Utah has been in the bottom five in defensive rating since the first game, and performances like Saturday night definitely won't change things.

So what's gone wrong?

Let's head to coach Will Hardy first for his explanation.

"We've got way too many moments where we're not doing a good job on the ball," he said. "We've been undisciplined with our hands and fouled too much, and we're not doing a very good job with secondary defenders. The activity has been pretty lackluster in general."

So … in other words, pretty much everything.

And, hey, that's exactly what John Collins said.

"I mean, everything — communication, effort, willingness to rebound, just a total effort on our part to just do a better job, to have more pride, but I can't really put it on one thing," he said.

The Timberwolves went to the line 31 times and shot 29 times in the restricted area. It's the same things that have plagued the Jazz since the beginning; they can't stop the ball at the point of attack, and their help defenders have been slow.

Walker Kessler, who continued his slow start to the season on Saturday (4 points and four rebounds), pointed to communication as the big issue.

"I just think it's guys talking: 'Hey, I am in shift or that's a muck guy (someone the team is willing to let shoot).' A lot of communication on ball screens," he said.

Though, Kessler did concede that the first thing is for players to actually know what the game plan is and what's supposed to be happening. "Obviously, you can't just blabber a bunch of nonsense," he said. And, up to this point in this season, it's hard to claim that everyone knows exactly what they should be doing at all times.

The other option — that they simply can't execute it — is somehow worse.

"I think that's the big thing that we can get better at, and that is just taking pride in our individual defense and just really locking in on the game plan," said Lauri Markkanen.

Some good news for Jazz fans is Markkanen is still very good at basketball. He scored 22 points, including a 13-point first quarter that kept Utah in the game. The Jazz had a 5-point lead late in the second quarter, and then the wheels fell off.

Minnesota went on a 15-5 run to end the half, and never looked back. The Jazz were limited to 35% shooting and scored just 45 points in the second half — numbers Utah's defense could only dream of at this point in the season.

When Mike Conley pick-pocketed Keyonte George — one of Minnesota's 10 steals — and drove in for an uncontested layup with 9:32 remaining, Minnesota's lead ballooned to 21 points, and the game was all but over.

"That's a mindset shift that we have to have," Hardy said. "There's gonna be times where we're gonna miss shots. We should expect that. We can't be frustrated about what's happening on the offensive end and let that bleed into our defense because the lack of focus is hurting us."

Then he paused before he finished his thought with an obvious statement.

"So, yeah, we've got a long way to go."

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