For anyone who may have forgotten that Rudy Gobert is an absolutely elite NBA player capable of single-handedly changing games, well, Monday night was a pretty emphatic reminder.
After the three-time Defensive Player of the Year sat out the Utah Jazz’s first two preseason games this season, he made his first appearance against the Pelicans at Vivint Arena and proceeded to dominate the proceedings.
Gobert had a double-double by halftime, and finished with 19 points, 19 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal, as the Jazz rolled to a 127-96 victory over the short-handed Pelicans.
The Jazz outscored New Orleans by 37 points when the center was on the court.
After coach Quin Snyder held Gobert, Joe Ingles, and Bojan Bogdanovic out of Utah’s pair of Texas preseason games, the Jazz were finally almost at full strength on Monday. Only Rudy Gay (recovery from offseason heel surgery) and rookie sensation Jared Butler (non-COVID illness) sat out.
Meanwhile, with the Pels missing All-Stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, this contest got lopsided in a hurry.
The Jazz were at their best with the lineups that included Gobert and point guard Mike Conley — with the big man’s effective screening enabling efficient pick-and-roll offense. The Jazz’s guards made it point to feed Gobert down low, and he alternated nicely between finishing with strength or locating teammates — with a drop-off to a cutting Eric Paschall for a layup, and a dish to Joe Ingles in the corner for a 3 try standing out in particular.
The Jazz were less lethal when Donovan Mitchell was deployed as the lead initiator alongside backup big Hassan Whiteside. The former was a bit too deferential at times, while the latter struggled throughout the bulk of a pretty ineffectual effort.
While Mitchell improved when he dialed up the aggression (finishing with 18 points, five assists and four steals, albeit against six turnovers), Whiteside never quite found his rhythm — managing zero points on 0-for-3 from the field, plus five rebounds, one block, and five fouls in just 13:18 of court time.
Still, even that yielded a silver lining, as Snyder subsequently got more opportunity to deploy Paschall as a smallball center. He had success offensively, making sharp cuts to the hoop and making 6 of his 7 shots (the only exception being a badly off-target try from 3) en route to 14 points. However, he is not a rim presence at all, and not much more of a rebounder (just one board).
The only other real negative on the night was second-year two-way guard Trent Forrest’s scary fall. After going up to challenge a shot near the rim late in the second quarter, Forrest fell awkwardly and banged his head hard on the court, the sickening thud audible throughout the arena. After calling timeout, the entire Jazz team went to check on him as he laid prone on the end line.
After a few minutes of laying on the court, he was helped to his feet and off the court. He appeared quite woozy, and was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the game with concussion symptoms.
