How the ever-smiling Oscar Tshiebwe nearly ruined a Jazz tank job

SALT LAKE CITY — It was Oscar's night on Sunday. Oscar Tshiebwe's, that is.

The Utah Jazz two-way forward nearly got in the way of a must-lose game, recording career bests in both points (16) and rebounds (13) in 20 minutes of action.

And that's about all Utah could afford to play of the former NCAA Player of the Year in order to stay ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans in the tank race.

Tshiebwe was plus-25 in those 20 minutes, but the Pelicans beat Utah 128-121; yep, Utah's non-Tshiebwe minutes were pretty rough.

"It feels good," the ever-smiling Tshiebwe said. "It was a great opportunity. I keep growing, keep getting better (down in the G League). So tonight was great for me, and that was good test."

Tshiebwe has been dominant in the G League, averaging 16.5 points and 17.5 rebounds — at least in certain matchups. So was Sunday a sign that some of those gaudy numbers could potentially translate to the NBA? Maybe.

Tshiebwe proved to be Utah's best defense against Zion Williamson (though, to be fair, that wasn't saying a ton on Sunday as Utah often offered little resistance against the physical big man). Tshiebwe bodied him up, used angles well, and, most importantly, used his own strength — even if that sometimes slips his mind.

"I was like, I definitely need help," Tshiebwe said, before realizing that, wait, "I'm big, too! Sometimes I forget I'm big and strong."

He was pretty smart against the Williamson, too.

"Tonight, he did the best job of anybody in terms of giving Zion the appropriate amount of space but not just letting him get a running start at him," Hardy said. "And then picking his angle and bracing up for contact. I mean, Oscar's physical strength really stood out in the game tonight."

That strength was shown on the offensive side of the court, too, as he won rebounding battles, ran the court, and was aggressive when he got the ball in the pocket. He was 8-for-9 from the field to get to his career-high — even making a floater.

The one miss? His first attempt of the game. He got the ball behind the defense on a fastbreak and went up to dunk the ball. But he had forgotten there was a wrap on his fingers that made the ball slip out before he could finish the play.

"I smoked the first one," he laughed. "I forgot that I had this thing on, so the ball slid off. But other than that, it was great."

In all, though, it was a strong showing for a player that has been asked to jump back and forth between the Jazz and the Salt Lake City Stars this season. On Saturday, he put up 23 points and 18 rebounds in a G League win. The next night, he was doing something similar against one of the most physical bigs in the game.

"I'm still a little bit nervous," he said of playing in the NBA games. "I'm still trying to figure it out, because this is a different level. But the more I was playing, the more the game goes on, I started getting confidence and said, 'Well, it's not like that crazy.' So I started building up, and I just wanted to dunk every ball, because if you try to lay it out, they're going to block it — so that's what I did."

And it worked.

Tshiebwe had 8 points and six rebounds in the third quarter, helping the Jazz erase a 17-point deficit to go into the final frame tied. He exited the game at the 6:32 mark of the fourth quarter with Utah up by 3 — and didn't return.

But that might be a good thing in the end.

With the loss, the Jazz avoided passing the Pelicans in the standings and are now just a half-game up on Charlotte for the second-worst record in the league. Utah is now 0-3 against the Pelicans this season — three losses that could loom large at the end of the season.

So it was probably for the best that he watched the remainder of the game — even if it would have been a tad bit more fun to see Tshiebwe finish the night out.

"I love being around Oscar," Brice Sensabaugh said. "Man, to see him play like that, it brings me joy."

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