The triple team: the defense in jazz improves, but the offensive can not score against the Lakers

As you can see, the Jazz scored only 83 points against the Lakers, who allowed 114 points per game. This is the first time the Lakers have awarded less than 84 points since February of last season.

I would like to say that the troubles of the Jazz were caused by the lack of Donovan Mitchell, who played only 11 minutes in the game because of a bruise on the ribs. But while Mitchell would probably have helped, I do not know for sure. After all, the Jazz had only 62 points in the offensive standings with Mitchell during those minutes.

With or without Mitchell, the absence of a second offensive threat by the Jazz is a problem. Joe Ingles actually did a pretty decent job at the front of the pack without Mitchell, with 16 points and five assists, but to have him play a leading role, is asking for too much. Same with Alec Burks, who scored 17 points, but sank to 5-15 from the pack.

The most important problem is the long periods of complete non-contribution that Jazz has with Ricky Rubio, Dante Exum, Royce O'Neale and Jae Crowder. This allows teams to help with almost complete impunity, then everything stops.

Here is an example. Ingles manages the pick and roll with Rudy Gobert, but Lonzo Ball has the opportunity to help Rubio hit Ingles, forcing him to take back the ball. This means there is no player or lob, and Ingles must return it to him, which will lead to a Crowder pull-up.

Something like Burks, Mitchell, Ingles, Crowder, Gobert may well be the best offensive chance of Jazz, but this formation presents real defensive holes. Snyder went to see Burks instead of Rubio late in the game, but the Lakers simply replaced Burks with LeBron James and then attacked.

As for the formidable defenses, the Jazz is simply lacking real threats.

And despite the three consecutive defeats, there were signs of real positivity in the locker room of the Jazz Friday night. It was a very good evening for the defense of Jazz: 90 points out of 100 possessions is a definite victory. They showed flashes of being the defensive team of last season with some games in which they showed they were the defensive aggressor.

They forced 23 Lakers turnovers, but if we are honest, many of them self-inflicted. But especially with Jae Crowder in the game, they were able to prevent too many rotations, keeping the Lakers in front and holding them face to face.

Pieces like this show just how seamless the defense of Jazz can be. Leaving a screen, the Lakers are accustomed to descend immediately, putting real pressure on the defense by entering the painting. But Crowder changes the pick and moves sideways very quickly to stand in front of Ingram and force the charge.

We mentioned the need for the Jazz to get help from the back guards in case of screen, and I thought he had done it tonight. They forced turnovers and even got blocked shots from behind, limiting the Lakers' ability to score.

And they did a great job on two of the other four factors: finishing the defense process with a defensive rebound and not letting the Lakers go to the free throw line. The Lakers had only five offensive rebounds out of 43 throws missed, and giving only 18 free throws is a very good win too.

"We kept. We performed on the defensive. We executed the game plan and our players played with energy, "said Jazz head coach Quin Snyder. "There is nothing to be ashamed or discouraged, but I thought we had really played like we did before. We came back in transition. We must continue to grind. "

This is partly what makes it so bad that the Jazz could not score because they could have used a victory to reward them for their greatly improved defensive efforts. Alas, they could not shoot or score points in transition.

Given the overall defensive quality of the Jazz tonight, this is probably not the time to mention it. But I thought a play summed up something I felt this season: Gobert was not good enough to protect the rim this season.

Here is the piece. Lance Stephenson attacks the edge after a screen by Javale McGee. Ingles loses Stephenson, so Gobert is responsible for stopping the goal attempt. But the good news is that McGee is not riding hard, so Gobert has only one job.

But instead of completely changing Stephenson's shot, Gobert keeps his hands low and the backpedals. Finally, he merely nudges Stephenson's mid-section when he speaks. This is what happens. I would have rightly blamed Enes Kanter for doing that, it's just not a good defense. But this time, it comes from the defensive player of the year.

If it was a unique thing, well. But this is not the case: statistics show that the teams have been much more successful in attacking the ground this year against Gobert than any other. This painting from the great Cleaning The Glass website tells the story:

This is how the opponents of Jazz have fought well from different places while Rudy Gobert is on the field since his second season. Cleaning The Glass displays statistics in two ways: the percentage in gray and the 1-100 percent that represents the rest of the league. Blue percentiles are a good defense, red percentiles are a bad defense.

In the first four years, Gobert's defender is solidly in the blue, if not elite. And in the last two seasons leading up to this one, Gobert's impact also contributed to mid-distance shots and even 3-point shots in total. (There is some debate as to whether the external impact is due to the fact that Gobert's home defense allowed the Jazz to play a stronger defense on the perimeter or just at random, but in any case.)

In this season, the Jazz defended the rim at a lower than average level with Gobert on the ground. Now the defense of midrange and 3 points has been even worse, but you would have thought that the Jazz could at least block the rim with Gobert. So far, this is not the case. In fact, the teams shot about 2.4% better on the rim with Gobert in the game than when he's on the bench.

For what it's worth, it still discourages rim shots at about the same pace as past seasons. The teams shoot about 8% fewer shots on goal when Gobert is outside than when he's not there. It's just that now they only do the ones they take.

There is no doubt that at least some of the responsibility lies with the guards to engage Gobert in a better defense situation. In fact, it could even be a lion's share of responsibility. But Gobert, who had a brilliant season in which he won the title of defensive player of the year, has not yet reached the required level of quality.