Rudy Gobert’s game-saving defense shines in Utah Jazz win over Chicago Bulls

CHICAGO — Defense wins basketball games, and when you’re the Utah Jazz and you have the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year on the floor, it’s almost a guarantee that there will be a couple of defensive plays that are undeniably great.

Rudy Gobert did it again on Thursday night, saving the game in a 102-98 win against the Chicago Bulls, improving the Jazz’s record to 22-12 on the season.

On a chance to tie the game with 21.7 seconds left to play, Bulls guard Zach Lavine drove into the paint and was met by Gobert in all of his stifling glory.

“I think the gods put him in a position to block shots which is great for us,” Joe Ingles said after the game. “I guess for me it’s just expected — I expect him to do it, and I think he expects himself to do it.”

“I think the gods put him in a position to block shots which is great for us. I guess for me it’s just expected — I expect him to do it, and I think he expects himself to do it.” — Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles on Rudy Gobert’s game-sealing block

A Royce O’Neale rebound forced the Bulls to foul in the open court and after Donovan Mitchell hit both free throws on the other end, the game was all but over. Though, that didn’t stop Gobert from asserting his dominance and making sure the Bulls weren’t going to get back into the game.

Lavine tried once more with 7.6 seconds on the clock, and Gobert was there to block the shot.

“I just have to do what I do,” Gobert said after his 17-point, 12-rebound, performance. “I know if I do that, we have a good chance to win the game.”

Of course it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. The Bulls lead the league in forcing turnovers and are a young and aggressive, defensively-minded team, a fact that Jazz coach Quin Snyder warned about before the game started.

“We just stayed strong mentally and kept defending” Snyder said. “We had just enough to win the game. Give Chicago credit, with their activity on the defensive end, they played well enough to win, and we happened to get the win.”

Many of the Jazz’s turnovers led to opportunities in transition for the Bulls, especially from beyond the 3-point line.

It was just Monday night when the Jazz’s defense held the Detroit Pistons to 14 total 3-point attempts, a point which was emphasized and then praised after that game. On Thursday night in Chicago, the Bulls had 36 3-point attempts.

In the end, it was the better defense that won, powered by Gobert who also had three blocks in the victory. But there was more than just Gobert’s end-of-game dominance that pleased the Jazz on Thursday.

Ingles kept the ball moving around, racking up 10 assists to go with his eight points, and each of the four players that checked in off the bench — Jordan Clarkson, Georges Niang, Emmanuel Mudiay and Tony Bradley — had a hand in keeping the Jazz in the fight, combining for 36 bench points.

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“Joe had a terrific game just managing the game and communicating,” Snyder said. “I thought we did as good a job as we have all year just staying together and staying connected on both ends, even when things weren’t easy.”

The Bulls upped the ante in the second half, forcing 12 turnovers. On the other side, the Jazz tightened up their half-court defense, holding Chicago to just 19 points in the third quarter, a run that gave them the upper hand through the rest of the game.

Bojan Bogdanovic paced the Jazz with a quiet and hard-fought 19 points, nine of which came from the free-throw line, and he was one of five players to finish the night in double figures. Gobert and Mitchell finished with 17 apiece, Clarkson put up 12 points and Niang added 11.

The Jazz have two more games on this road trip — in Orlando on Saturday and New Orleans on Monday — before returning to Salt Lake City to play their first home game of 2020 on Wednesday against the New York Knicks.