SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz's 109-98 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Jazz's defense making fundamental mistakes early

One easy way to criticize a defense is by saying they lack attention to detail. Detail, you'll often hear, is the difference between excellence and mediocrity, and by just focusing on the little things, greatness is achievable.

The Jazz's defense failed at the big things tonight. One important defensive basketball tenet is to just stand in front of your man. The objective of doing so is to prevent him from driving to the hoop and scoring.

Sometimes, though, the opponent will try to drive past you, which means you have to move your feet. That's not done here by Ricky Rubio:

Here is a straight line drive at the end of the shot clock caused exclusively by Ricky Rubio not moving his feet: pic.twitter.com/Yt2Vid9x1j — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) November 14, 2017

The Jazz defended well for 20 seconds of that possession, and then just gifted it away. Here's a quicker one, though: Alec Burks getting blown by at the end of a quarter to create an easy two-for-one for Minnesota:

Here's a Jamal Crawford easy blowby of Burks to get a 2-for-1 pic.twitter.com/TOBccqqtn6 — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) November 14, 2017

This one is at least caused by Rubio wanting to help, but in the end, he leaves Tyus Jones wide-open one pass away for the easy drive to the rim.

And here's another relatively easy straight-line drive to the basket caused by a Rubio overhelp pic.twitter.com/CDJModDDjC — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) November 14, 2017

The Jazz just can't give up those situations. I get that the Jazz are generally at a quickness deficit when compared to their opponent, but they have to at least try to keep their man in front of them a little bit. When they don't, it's just way, way too easy.

2. Ricky Rubio is broken

Ricky Rubio just put up a game where he scored three points (1-7 shooting, 0-6 from 3-point range), and added two assists, three turnovers, one foul, and no rebounds in 22 minutes. The Jazz were outscored by 11 points when he was on the floor.

That's probably the worst game of Rubio's career. How do I know? Well, here's one objective way of looking at it. John Hollinger, former ESPN NBA Analyst and now the assistant general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies, created a metric called Game Score. The basic idea is to create an all-in-one metric that takes into account the relative value of points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, turnovers, shots, and fouls, and see just how good a player's game is.

What are some good games? Well, you don't have to go that far back to find them. Remember James Harden's 56-point, 13-assist masterpiece against the Jazz last Sunday? Well, that had the 11th-highest Game Score of any game this millennium: 49.2. Unsurprisingly, Kobe Bryant's 81-point game leads with a 63.5 Game Score.

Ricky Rubio's worst game ever by this metric was on December 23, 2012, when he scored five points, but committed five turnovers and added only two assists in just 18 minutes. The Wolves went on to lose by three and Rubio's Game Score was -3.7.

On Monday night, Rubio's game score was -3.5, so slightly better. Except in this game, Rubio's team was outscored by 11 when he was on the floor, rather than being even in the 2012 game. His matchups, the point guards for the New York Knicks, didn't play well then, but Minnesota's Jeff Teague far outplayed Rubio tonight. And then, the blowout tonight doesn't compare well to the close game Rubio played five years ago. I think, all things considered, you have to consider Monday night's contest his worst game ever.

It's just completely baffling what's happened to Rubio. He's making dumb plays, like finding Jonas Jerebko on a fast break instead of Donovan Mitchell, leading to a turnover, or sometimes just finding himself in the air with no good pass to make.

And on defense, he's just burning the Jazz repeatedly with defensive mistakes like the ones you saw above. Without Rudy Gobert back there, the Jazz have no chance of dealing with those mistakes well.

The hope is that this truly is rock bottom and from here, there's nowhere to go but up. But right now, he doesn't look like himself. He's bricking shots, fine, but he's not competing reliably on the defensive end and isn't adding anything special on offense. There's a much longer lowlight reel than highlight reel, and while that's the case, the Jazz just don't have much of a chance.

3. Talking to Rudy Gobert

I got the chance to talk briefly with Rudy Gobert before tonight's contest. In case you missed it, Gobert will be out four to six weeks with a bone bruise in his right tibia, the result of this play against the Miami Heat on Friday:

NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Rudy Gobert taken off the court as Dion Waiters runs into Rudy Gobert's knee. pic.twitter.com/kxFRyQkxmj — Dave Noriega (@davenoriega) November 11, 2017

Here's a quick Q&A:

When did you know that the injury was going to keep you out?

"I knew when I saw that it was swollen, it could be a pretty good bruise. We knew the ligaments were fine, but it was more of as a precaution that we did the MRI ... Even when I had my injury last year, or my MCL injury two years ago, it didn't get swollen. That's when we thought it was better to do the MRI."

How did the knee feel?

"It was just stiff. I didn't really feel pain, but it was just stiff because of the fluid in there."

What are your thoughts about leaving the team during a critical stretch?

"It's frustrating for sure. We know every game matters. But at the same time, I think it's just going to make us stronger. I'm confident that the team can win without me, I have no doubt. The only thing I can do is make sure I do everything right and when I come back, I'm stronger and ready to help the team out."

What is the rehab process like?

"The first thing is to try to get the swelling down, and it's going great. After three days, there's not much left. And then the other thing is to stay strong. Make sure my muscles are strong, make sure the rest of my body stays strong and stay in shape."

What did you think about Dion Waiters' comments that you need to "get out of his feelings?"

"It's not my feelings, it's my knee. It's more important. I like to play basketball. Sometimes, if someone takes that away from you, you get in your feelings for a reason."

Is it easier because you've been through knee injuries before?

"The main thing is that I know I'm going to return 100 percent. The ligaments in my knee are fine. I'm going to miss some time. I'm feeling lucky because when I look at the video, if I don't lift my foot up at that same moment, I'd be done. It'd be way worse for sure."

Do you try to return for the front end of the 4-6 week projection?

"It's not about the projection. It's about how I heal and how I feel. Usually, I heal very fast. So I'm pretty confident, and we're not going to rush it, and I'm not going to do anything stupid, but hopefully, I can be back before that."

It seems like you're feeling more positively about the injury than expected.

"It's early in the season, I'm confident that the team is going to win games even when I'm not here, and I'll be back stronger. It's like the All-Star break before the All-Star break. Everything is good. Nothing changes, no team goals, no individual goals. Everything is good."

Rudy will be traveling with the team on these road trips, so he'll still be around for the most part. It's just that the Jazz will miss his on-court presence in a big way.

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