… Pascal Siakam scored a season-low four points on 2-of-14 shooting. Raptors: OG Anunoby (left hip) and Precious Achiuwa (right shoulder tendonitis) were inactive for Toronto. Joe Ingles fed Gobert for a pair of dunks and drained a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 15-2 run that put the Jazz up 98-80 early in the fourth quarter.
It opened the door for Utah to rebuild a double-digit lead. Toronto made only three baskets over the final nine minutes of the quarter. The Jazz tightened up on defense in the third quarter, allowing them to create some separation.
They were hitting a lot of threes and we just tried to do something to change it.” “We just changed our game plan throughout the game. “We came out blitzing a lot and then we just stopped doing it,” Toronto forward Scottie Barnes said. VanVleet made 3-pointers on three straight possessions to erase Utah’s lead and put the Raptors ahead 53-51 shortly before halftime. He made three 3-pointers and assisted another basket to help the Jazz rally and take a 42-31 lead early in the second quarter. Gay gave Utah an immediate lift even while playing on a minutes restriction. He made back-to-back baskets to kickstart a 9-2 run that gave the Raptors a 23-17 lead in the first quarter. Toronto lost for the sixth time in seven games despite scoring 37 points off 24 Jazz turnovers.īirch gave Toronto an early spark, scoring all 14 of his points before halftime. scored a season-high 31 points for Toronto, and Fred VanVleet added 24. They also shot it pretty good from three - they’re a good shooting team and a really tough team to defend.” “They got a lot of buckets at the rim tonight,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. Utah shot 55% from the field and scored 48 points in the paint. Rudy Gobert had 14 points and 11 rebounds. This is all trying to get in a rhythm so we can be our best by then.Donovan Mitchell also scored 20 points for Utah, and Royce O’Neale added a season-high 16. As he said himself, “The real season’s coming. If there was ever a time for Rudy Gay to get into his groove, it would be right now. The Utah Jazz only have 14 games left this year. Although I think Paschall’s energy is fantastic, his advanced defensive statistics are pretty poor (-2.8 defensive RAPTOR, -1.50 D-LEBRON) and I’d still rather trust Gay with those minutes, especially in games that matter. He’s still Utah’s best and most versatile option at the four spot off the bench and is definitely a better rebounder, shooter, and defender than the likes of Eric Paschall. Nonetheless, with the playoffs less than a month away, the Utah Jazz need Gay to have a stronger impact on the court. His short time in Utah hasn’t been strictly smooth sailing. On top of learning a new system and adjusting to a new environment, Gay’s recovery ended up eating into the start of the season and forced him into a late debut. Over the summer, Gay undertook surgery on his right heel to take care of pain that he had been dealing with for over five years. This isn’t completely fair to Gay, however. Again, for reference, Gay’s WAR was 3.8 in the 2020-21 campaign. Instead, Gay is currently averaging a near career low in Win’s Above Replacement (WAR) at 1.4. This was the reason why many expected Gay to come in and make a difference for Utah on that end. While his impact on offense was identical, his defensive RAPTOR was significantly higher.
For reference, this was Rudy Gay’s impact at San Antonio last season: Using FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR statistic, we can see that Gay’s impact on offense and defense are both relatively negligible. When looking at advanced statistics, his impact continues to be neutral: FiveThirtyEight His offensive and defensive ratings are about league average at 112.0 and 106.6, respectfully. On the season, Gay is averaging 8.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assist on 39.5% shooting from the field and 33.5% from three. This season with Utah, however, the results are mixed. Gay, although on the tail end of his career, proved in his time with the San Antonio Spurs that he could find ways to have a positive impact on the court. For years, the Jazz needed a long, athletic, and switchable defender to come off their bench. When the Utah Jazz signed Rudy Gay to a 3 year, 18 million dollar contract this past off-season, I was thoroughly excited.