The Utah Jazz are enjoying a quality 2016-2017 NBA season. While Quin Snyder’s team isn’t necessarily blowing up from a popularity standpoint, the Jazz are quietly racking up victories to the tune of a 49-win pace and the potential for homecourt advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
However, the Jazz are hitting the skids at the wrong time and that came to a head on Saturday after a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Utah is battling with Los Angeles for playoff positioning and, given the fact that it was the fourth loss in five contests for the Jazz, it is easy to see how the team could be frustrated. Star center Rudy Gobert certainly seemed to be angry on Saturday, as he called out his teammates for not competing while speaking with ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
“We’ve got guys that compete, but some of us don’t compete. Some of us just think about scoring. That’s what it is. Coach keeps repeating it: We’ve just got to compete. We’re too nice. Those guys, we know they’re going to get calls. We’ve just got to come out aggressive and ready to fight.”
These are pointed comments from Gobert and the note that some of his teammates “just think about scoring” isn’t a great look. Even with the loss, the Jazz still sport the third-best defensive rating (102.5) in the NBA but the team’s recent play has justifiably left the squad looking for answers.
Gobert went on to put together a more powerful message, including the fact that he believes the Jazz are “very, very, very good” when they perform at their peak.
“I think everybody needs to think about making plays for the team, making winning plays, before thinking about how many points we’re going to score and stuff like that. Everybody has to be ready to sacrifice. In the playoffs, it’s not going to be pretty. There’s going to be some games where you don’t score, but are you going to take a charge for a teammate? Are you going to come and box out DeAndre [Jordan] for a teammate?
“It works with all of us. And we do it, we do it, but we do it by stretches. We need to do it right from the beginning of the game. I think when we do that, we’re very, very, very good.”
This is Utah’s first voyage to the playoffs in quite some time, and as a result, the Jazz haven’t been through the “dog days” of the NBA season in the same way that other teams have. Still, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to have a player of Gobert’s stature chirping and staying on top of his teammates in mid-to-late March and it will be interesting to see how quickly the Jazz respond with improved on-court performance.
Source: DIME on UProxx