The Triple Team: Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell superb in Jazz win over Lakers


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SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 105-99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Rudy Gobert spectacular in Jazz comeback win

It was the kind of performance that leaves you wondering about not only the Jazz's potential in this year, but in years to come.

Rudy Gobert scored 29 points on only 12 shots, including hitting 9-11 free throws, to lead the Jazz to a victory on both ends of the floor. He was very good defensively, as usual, picking up a couple of blocks and bothering far more than that inside.

But his offensive game is what is going to garner discussion after the second-highest scoring night of his career. Yes, Gobert doesn't have a move where you can reliably give him the ball in the post. Can we be honest? One-on-one post scoring is nearly dead in the NBA, kept alive by a small guild of nostalgic practictioners.

What isn't dead: rolling to the basket, screening, big men running in transition, backdoor lobs, and offensive rebound putbacks. Gobert excels at all of these skills. Perhaps even scarier, he's getting better at them. Take a look at Rudy Gobert's 2017 scoring numbers per 36 minutes, separated by month.

2017 YearGPMINPTSFGMFGAFG%FTMFTAFT%
Preseason410123.18.912.173.55.37.868.2
April619618.07.210.568.43.75.171.4
March1553617.46.99.771.53.66.257.6
February1136415.15.18.858.44.86.772.1
January1552713.84.98.457.74.16.266.7


Yes, it's only preseason; and yes, he played minutes against non-NBA caliber competition. So, he probably won't average 23 points per 36 minutes in October. But on this trajectory, maybe he will by January? February?

I get that it's not a linear thing, and at some point Gobert will run into more adversity. But Jazz fans have to be thrilled about what the 25-year-old is doing right now.

By the way, this is a dunk deserving of the Kevin Harlan classic "He sucked the gravity right out of the building!" call.

😲@rudygobert27#utahjazzpic.twitter.com/9yFUeUgt2h — Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) October 11, 2017

2\. Donovan Mitchell! ====================

Without Raul Neto or Dante Exum available, Donovan Mitchell was definitely going to see time Tuesday night. He certainly made the most of the opportunity.

Mitchell had 26 of his own points in 33 minutes Tuesday, though his play came with a lot of shots; Mitchell was 10-20 overall and 2-9 from the 3-point line. He also added five rebounds and three assists.

He had some incredible highlight plays, each displaying a different aspect of Mitchell's skillset.

Here's one showing off his vertical athleticism.

One of many plays from Donovan Mitchell in @utahjazz road win! #NBARookspic.twitter.com/GGIAZa2wkP — NBA (@NBA) October 11, 2017

One showing off his speed and ballhandling ability:

Donovan Mitchell with a wicked spin move of his own pic.twitter.com/h0j7bsFbmv — CJ Fogler (@cjzero) October 11, 2017

One showing off the body control and left-hand finishing:

Donovan Mitchell switching hands for the basket pic.twitter.com/FfWu2GuleX — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) October 11, 2017

And then his savvy and patience on the pivoting play at the beginning of this video:

A big night for @spidadmitchell 26 points on 10/20 shooting. I loved that he was on the floor to finish the game. Big shots late #utahjazzpic.twitter.com/bzGJbpSRb0 — Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) October 11, 2017

I thought it was telling how head coach Quin Snyder used his substitution pattern to allow Mitchell to be in the game late. Mitchell was inserted into the game with 3:36 left in the third quarter, and probably isn't ready to play nearly 16 consecutive NBA minutes yet, so Snyder subbed Mitchell out for just two minutes, 34 seconds in the middle of the fourth quarter — giving Mitchell a breather — and left him in the game to score five consecutive points to put the Lakers away.

Will that continue even when Rodney Hood is available? Then, the Jazz would likely need to sit one of Rubio, Hood or Ingles in order to play Mitchell in the clutch. But it seems like he may play his way into the end of games for the Jazz this season.

3. The Jazz weave?

There were a lot of other things to talk about in this game: Rubio's 22 points, Alec Burks' too quick long-two trigger, Royce O'Neale's defensive tenacity, and Joe Johnson's still-mesmerizing shot-making ability. But I wanted to pull one play out from the very beginning of the game that I thought was fun and visually appealing.

Jazz running a fun weave play pic.twitter.com/J5imeDFeRh — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) October 11, 2017

Rubio dribbles the ball up the floor, passes it off to Favors, then makes a UCLA cut. Favors passes to Gobert, who laterals the ball to Hood coming up around from the side, who then laterals it to Ingles, doing the same from the other side. Ingles runs around a Gobert screen, who rolls to the hoop, opening space for Rubio to be wide-open in the corner for a three, which he hits.

Do you know what it reminds me of? The Warriors Weave! Golden State Warriors blog Golden State of Mind did a fantastic post on the Warriors Weave in 2015, explaining how it works. Here's a compliation of them I found on YouTube, and the Jazz's version looks pretty similar. The weave tires out the defense and leads to easy miscommunication.

Of course, the biggest reason that the Weave is so fun is that the Harlem Globetrotters do a fantastic sendup of it. Here's one Globetrotters practice that shows it off:

Watch out for the weave.

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