The Utah Jazz have not only survived the living hospital their bench has been for the first third of the season, but managed a first place in the Northwest Division — a large part of their success revolving around their center, Rudy Gobert.
The Frenchman stifled All-Star center Marc Gasol on Sunday in ways hardly anyone ever does, keeping the Spaniard to a dismal eight points on 4-of-22 from the floor, as Gobert led his team to an 82-73 victory in a defensive war.
“He was solid tonight,” head coach Quin Snyder told ESPN's Tim MacMahon in the understatement of the night.
Gobert scored 21 points on 9-of-9 shooting, snatching 12 rebounds, blocking three shots and factoring into the offensive misery of Gasol and the Grizzlies, who shot only 30.1 percent from the floor.
“Yeah, that’s rock solid. How’s that?” Snyder said.
With a smirk, Snyder added, “I’m just looking around to see if he’s around the corner.”
The coach, who clearly doesn't want Gobert to get a big head over his recent success, knew just what to expect from his big-time rim protector. MacMahon asked Gobert who the best center in the NBA was, at which point the 7-foot-1 tower couldn't help himself.
“To be honest, right now, I think it’s me,” Gobert said, before following up in a fashion his coach would approve of. “But it’s a long season. I just try to take every game as a challenge. The hardest thing is to do it [for] the full season.”
Rudy Gobert will have a shot at avenging his last loss against the Golden State Warriors (24-4) on Tuesday — the big fella had an impressive 20-point, 17-rebound outing, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor during their 106-99 loss on Dec. 8.
The Jazz (18-10) have won four straight going into Tuesday's game and 11 of their last 13 contests.
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