SALT LAKE CITY — Jazz forward Enes Kanter outdueled Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas Wednesday, but Toronto polished off the Jazz anyway, 123-104 at EnergySolutions Arena.
For Kanter and Valanciunas — the top two center prospects of the 2011 NBA draft class — it was just another battle of the two dating back to their days before the NBA. In fact, the Jazz selected Kanter over Valanciunas in 2011 with the third overall pick. The Raptors drafted Valanciunas with the next pick.
“I’m tired of playing him,” Kanter joked after the loss. “I’ve been going against him since I was 16 years old. I respect him a lot. He’s a very good, skilled player.”
While both played 33 minutes, Kanter outscored Valanciunas 19-9. Kanter also outrebounded his longtime foe 9-6 and 4-0 on the offensive glass. Both big men recorded a block.
A tale of the tape heading into the matchup
Kanter: 13.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 0.3 blocks
Valanciunas: 11. 9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks
First quarter
Kanter: 11 points (5-9 shooting), 4 rebounds, 1 steal
Valanciunas: 1 point (0-3 shooting), 2 rebounds, 1 block
Starting at power forward on the night, Kanter led all Jazz scorers in the opening quarter with 11 points, while Valanciunas, matched up against Derrick Favors to start the game, struggled. Though he wasn’t always matched up with his familiar counterpart, Kanter flourished with his offensive opportunities.
In one particular offensive battle with Valanciunas, the Jazz forward rotated around the opposing center for an easy layup. After making a fastbreak layup, Kanter made a solid defensive play on Valanciunas, forcing the Raptors' center into an awkward and errant shot that went out of bounds for a turnover. It was the last time Valanciunas played in the quarter.
Kanter was paired with both Tyler Hansbrough and Patrick Patterson the rest of the quarter. The Jazz big man made the most of his chances in that span, making a perfect pirouette around Patterson for a layup during one opportunity and making another basket after that.
Second quarter
Kanter: 4 points (2-4 shooting), 2 offensive boards, 1 block, 1 assist
Valanciunas: 6 points (3-4 shooting), 2 rebounds, 1 assist
Both saw significantly less time than the opening quarter. Kanter did a better job on the offensive glass in the second quarter, and even stuffed Valanciunas while on the defensive end. However, Valanciunas awoke offensively as the quarter wore on.
He hit a 10-foot jumper from the baseline in Kanter’s face, in which Kanter failed to put a hand in Valanciunas’s face. Kanter, though, responded with a quick layup on the other end.
Valanciunas skied over Kanter for a defensive board late in the quarter, then capitalized with an easy dunk shortly after on another possession. Both had embarrassing moments defensively in the waning moments of the first half. Kanter failed to rotate while guarding Patterson, which allowed Patterson to drill a 3-pointer right over him. Valanciunas was forced to foul Jazz forward Gordon Hayward to prevent Hayward from posterizing him with a monster dunk attempt just before halftime.
Third quarter
Kanter: 0 points, 1 offensive board
Valanciunas: 0 points, 2 rebounds
Both players were quiet again in the third quarter, though they were matched against each other a few times. Valanciunas picked up two defensive boards, but allowed an easy Trevor Booker tip-in. Kanter’s best play was an offensive board.
Fourth quarter
Kanter: 4 points (2-3 shooting), 1 defensive rebound, 1 offensive rebound.
Valanciunas: 2 points (1-2 shooting), 0 rebounds
Valanciunas was held to just one basket in the fourth quarter, while the offense continued to look for points from the perimeter. His lone bucket came on a nice wraparound layup on Jazz center Rudy Gobert, while his other attempt was blocked emphatically by Gobert on Toronto’s following possession.
Kanter picked up an offensive foul while trying to dish the ball to Gobert. He had a nice slam midway through the quarter and his night ended after a hoop-and-the-harm layup with 4:30 left in the game.
Final analysis
The scorecard goes to Kanter in this battle; however, since it’s basketball and not boxing, Valanciunas wins the important part. Neither played particularly great defense in the game. Kanter was efficient with his team-high 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting. His four offensive rebounds also led the team. That being said, he struggled to pick up perimeter shooters when needed and to help out when opposing guards slashed to the basket.
Valanciunas fell below in his season averages, but his team shot 57 percent from beyond the arc, so he shouldn’t feel too bad.
As for Kanter and his position, Jazz coach Quin Snyder applauded parts of the game he excelled in. In the end the effort stopping the Toronto guards, however, did too much damage to salvage a win.
“We took care of the ball and by in large, we took care of the glass,” Synder said. “When we’ve done that in previous games, we’ve had good results. Tonight it was just … sometimes they’re just shooting and you tip your hat.”