The Jazz's remarkable, NBA-leading defensive run


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SALT LAKE CITY — Back in January, Rudy Gobert returned from his second knee injury of the season.

He'd missed 26 games, the Utah Jazz had an 18-26 record, and then proceeded to lose two of their next three to the New York Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks — two teams that should have been tanking but didn't know it yet.

And since that moment, the Jazz have been absolutely sensational on the defensive end, stopping the league from scoring in a way that no other team has in a decade-plus. Here's the NBA defensive leaderboard since then, 22 games and nearly two months ago:

Source: stats.nba.com.

The Jazz aren't only ahead of the field, they're lapping it. The distance between the Jazz and the second place team (the Toronto Raptors) is bigger than the gap between the second place team and the 19th place team (the Cleveland Cavaliers). It's absurd.

Defensive ratings aren't supposed to be this variable, but the Jazz are showing an ability to stop the other team that we haven't really seen before.

How are they doing it? Let's break it down. Unless otherwise specified, all stats are from the 22 game stretch since Jan. 23.

Rudy Gobert

It starts with Rudy Gobert, obviously. Gobert is a one-man defensive scheme, controlling the paint with such dominance that it completely changes how teams attack the Jazz.

First of all, teams rarely get shots up around the rim. The average team has taken only 30 percent of their shots in the restricted area against the Jazz, good for second in the league and about five percent better than the average team.

That impact is nearly entirely due to Gobert: it's actually about seven percent lower when Gobert is on the court, and teams go to the basket more frequently than usual with Gobert out of the game.

Here, for example: Kemba Walker, one of the league's most fearless attackers, nopes out of a layup attempt at the rim to kick the ball to Michael Carter-Williams, a terrible shooter.

Rudy Gobert is a scary person who made Kemba kick it out to MCW (a MAJOR win) pic.twitter.com/tUcM9usmje — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 10, 2018

Five and 7 percent doesn't seem like a lot, but it is. It means about four to six fewer shots are taken at the rim per contest. This seems obvious, but preventing four to six layups or dunks per game and pushing them out on the floor probably saves at least a couple of points.

Of course, that Gobert forces players around the rim to miss more frequently matters too. Opponents have shot 60 percent at the rim, the average is about 64 percent. At 27 rim FGAs per game, that's about one more miss, so add in another couple of points.

(AP Photo)
(AP Photo)

But Gobert's impact at the rim also allows the Jazz to defend higher up on the perimeter and avoid leaving 3-point shooters open. The Jazz have allowed the second-fewest corner threes during this stretch (5.1 percent of FGAs), and teams are making 38 percent of them, a below-average number.

Above the break threes are way down, too, as the Jazz only allow the fifth-fewest of those attempts. Teams have only made 28 percent of those — a number that is probably too good to be sustainable. Opponent 3-point shooting is mostly luck, and the Jazz can figure to give up an extra made 3-point attempt per contest or so once their opponent's shooting returns to the mean a little bit.

As you'd expect, without the layups, dunks or the 3-point line, that means teams have to turn to the inefficient mid-range shot. No team has forced more mid-range shots than the Jazz, and they've done a pretty good job of defending those too, ranking seventh in the league.

Defensive rebounding

Earlier in the year, defensive rebounding was a small problem for the Jazz. For whatever reason, a team with Derrick Favors and Gobert in the frontcourt was routinely losing the rebounding battle.

Favors and Gobert deserve credit for turning the intensity up; the two have rebounded significantly better since Gobert's return. But maybe the biggest point of surprise has been the rebounding of the Jazz's guards.

Ricky Rubio has become the third-best rebounder on the Jazz, averaging 5.6 rebounds per game over this stretch. That's certainly elite for a point guard, and I think it's pretty easy to make the case he's the best rebounding point guard ever in a Jazz uniform.

But Royce O'Neale is matching Rubio on a per-36 minute basis, averaging 4.3 rebounds per game. The Jazz need a lot of those, especially given how frequently O'Neale plays with bench units that are smaller than the Jazz's starting lineup. Donovan Mitchell, too, has contributed, with 4.2 rebounds per game. He's even invented a new category, the highlight-reel board:

Donovan Mitchell one-hand beasted Dwight Howard for a rebound... pic.twitter.com/C8WE4IVlH2 — Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) January 13, 2018

Finishing possessions out with defensive rebounds has been the problem for the league's best defensive team over the first half of the season, the Boston Celtics. They're now 21st in the league defensively over this stretch; meanwhile, the Jazz are second best.

They're not fouling

Despite what some fans think, the Jazz have actually been a big beneficiary of the whistle over the last 22 games, at least from a statistical point of view. The Jazz send opponents to the line the third least of any team in the NBA, a difference of about 2.5 free throws per game compared to the average team.

For as much time as he spends around the paint, Gobert does a great job of maintaining verticality and avoiding the whistle. Favors has for the most part, too.

And Joe Ingles, who frequently guards the opponent's best wing player, has become maybe the league's best at showing the referee his hands when not committing fouls and hiding them when he is secretly using them to slow an opponent down. That he's among the league's best wing players at avoiding fouls despite his defensive role is a huge accomplishment, and shows off his terrific basketball IQ.

Mitchell, Rubio, and O'Neale have drastically improved, too. All three gambled for steals too frequently earlier in the season, drawing fouls and sometimes getting beat by their man. Now, all three are playing more solid defense, and it has shown in the results.

They got rid of the bad defenders and added a good one

Here were the Jazz's defenders with the highest on-court defensive rating before the trade deadline:

The Jazz's remarkable, NBA-leading defensive run

Source: stats.nba.com.

Rodney Hood was traded to the Cavaliers, Joe Johnson was traded to the Kings and signed by the Rockets. Perhaps not surprisingly, both have below-average on-court defensive ratings in their new homes, too.

Nate Wolters was waived long ago. And Alec Burks has mostly fallen out of the rotation, playing only 13 games during this stretch and averaging about 11 minutes per game when he did play. That's drastically less than the 20 minutes per game he was playing every game in November and December.

Jae Crowder, meanwhile, has been fantastic defensively, as the Jazz allow only 91.2 points per 100 possessions when he's on the floor. But it gets crazier when Crowder is in the game with Gobert.

When the two share the court, the Jazz allow only 84 points per 100 possessions. That's a crazy figure, even if it only happened in one game. To happen in 14 games and 267 minutes? It's really impressive stuff.

Your defense is only as good as its weakest link. With Hood and Johnson out and Crowder in, the Jazz don't have one.

How much of the Jazz's defensive effort is sustainable for the playoffs? Well, that opponent 3-point shooting percentage will go up and, of course, the schedule will become more difficult. But the Jazz have had some excellent defensive performances in this stretch against the league's best team: Houston, Golden State, Toronto, and Portland are all included.

And most of what the Jazz have done isn't fluky at all. They've upgraded the supporting cast around the league's best defender in Gobert. That, under the leadership of one of the league's best defensive scheming coaches in Quin Snyder, has led the Jazz to some remarkable defensive heights.

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