The Utah Jazz starters had a rough night in their 101-92 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday night at Vivint SmartHome arena. Their bench got them back in the game from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, but it wasn’t enough to make the comeback.
The Jazz bench outscored Toronto 42-19, led by Joe Ingles, who had 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. It was Ingles’ first 20-point game as a bench player after previously having six of them as a starter.
All four players who received minutes off the bench were a net positive for the Jazz. Leading the way in that metric was Tony Bradley, who has experienced a slow and steady rise this season. Utah was a plus-17 with Bradley on the court.
As a unit, the Jazz were a plus-44` with Ingles, Bradley, Georges Niang and Jordan Clarkson played. The starters, meanwhile, were a collective minus-89 for the Jazz. “I feel like the second group, when we get in there, we try to keep the progress going and not slack on defense, just try to get stops and score,” Bradley said. “I feel like we’ve been doing a really good job in recent games — and today, too.”
Coach Quin Snyder said he liked the way they played, particular in communication on the defensive end. He singled out Bradley and Ingles as players he thought played well, and said at times he played through Ingles on offense.
“I thought they did a good job in every aspect of the game,” Snyder said.
Utah’s bench has been playing well of late, giving the Jazz opportunities to get back into the game. Rudy Gobert said the bench was instrumental against the Boston Celtics, a game they won. He added that bench play will be important once the playoffs come around.
“It’s definitely great to have the bench give us a lift,” Gobert said. It’s a big plus for us. I think the best teams in the world have a very good bench. … If our bench keeps playing that way, I think it’s going to be huge for us.” Only Mike Conley was a net positive at plus-11. Donovan Mitchell was minus-26.
The bench was about the only good thing for the Jazz. Their winning streak stopped at five games. They were outrebounded 53-34.
