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SALT LAKE CITY — The sold-out crowd rose and applauded.
It was in appreciation for the players coming off the court after the Utah Jazz had jumped out to a 29-16 lead in the first nine minutes of Monday's Game 4. But it was also for the player who was checking in for the first time: Derrick Favors
Favors’ contract situation is no secret. His salary for next season is not guaranteed and in order for the Jazz to clear significant cap space this summer, they’ll have to renounce his rights in July. With the Jazz one loss away from elimination, Monday’s game may very well have been the last home game for Favors.
So what did he do? The same thing Jazz fans have grown accustomed to seeing from him in his nine seasons in Utah: taking on any role and then excelling at it.
On Monday, that role was to come off the bench and serve as Rudy Gobert’s backup. Oh, and then finish the game after Houston went small at the end.
His response: 12 points, 11 rebounds and a fourth quarter where he grabbed four offensive boards and scored six points to help ensure a 107-91 Jazz win.
“I thought Derrick’s offensive rebounding late in the game was crucial,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said.
Gobert leaned forward, inching his long frame closer to the mic to be sure he would be heard.
Gobert, the reigning defensive player of the year and the favorite for the award this season, didn’t finish the game on Monday.
It wasn’t a benching — far from it. The Jazz allowed just 22 points in the paint in Game 4 and that was with the Jazz purposely funneling the Rockets into the paint. Gobert was a major force behind that performance. He got to James Harden’s floaters and he disrupted lobs causing turnovers. He made it clear that the Rockets weren’t going to win by driving inside.
But with Rockets going small with PJ Tucker at center (Houston starter Clint Capella is suffering from two respiratory illnesses, per ESPN, and scored just four points in 27 minutes Monday), Snyder decided to roll with Favors to finish the game.
So with 4:26 left in the game, and after being in for two minutes in the fourth quarter, Gobert headed to bench. The decision worked masterfully. Utah continued its dominating final frame and ended up holding the Rockets to just 12 fourth-quarter points.
“As a competitor, I was surprised at first,” Gobert said of Snyder’s late-game decision. “But we all know that Derrick Favors can play. Derrick is a great player. I see him as a starter. He would start on probably 80 percent of NBA teams.
“When he’s on the floor and I’m on the bench, of course, I want to be out there, but he had a great game,” Gobert said. “The team is winning and that’s all that matters.”
After hearing Gobert’s comments, Donovan Mitchell quickly chimed in.
“Not a lot of All-Star quality centers would say that,” Mitchell said
That type of selflessness is something this team has prided itself on all season. And that attribute is one of the reasons why Utah’s season isn’t through just yet.
“That’s the definition of a team — when you put the group in front of yourself,” Snyder said. “And we have a lot of guys who are willing to do that and some of them did it tonight. Some of them will have to do it next game. That’s what makes a team good. It makes a team, a team.”
Maybe no player has personified that selflessness more than Favors.
Four seasons ago, he, not Gordon Hayward, was seen as the franchise cornerstone. But a myriad of injuries and then Gobert’s fast improvement into one of the league’s top players has forced Favors to have to adapt his game in order to best help the Jazz.
Utah doesn’t always play to Favors’ strengths. That hasn’t mattered to him. Come off the bench? Start? Shoot 3s? Score in the pick-and-roll? He’ll do anything he’s asked. So it was no surprise that Favors deflected praise of his monster fourth quarter and the Jazz’s stifling interior defense right back to the rest of his teammates.
“I think it was just a great team effort for us,” he said.
A great team effort — Favors wouldn’t want it any other way.
