Throughout the 2019-20 NBA season, NBC Sports’ National NBA Insider Tom Haberstroh has released weekly videos that detail some league topic Haberstroh finds interesting, whether it be about the San Antonio Spurs’ newfound 3-point shooting prowess or Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid’s tendency to spend time outside of the paint, to name a few.
All of the videos include a “Haberstat,” a statistic which Haberstroh finds particularly useful in explaining the topic of the clip.
His latest video is Utah Jazz-centric and the Haberstat is a doozy. Per Haberstroh, the most “unstoppable NBA lineup this season” calls Salt Lake City home.
Specifically, Utah’s starting lineup of Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Ingles and Royce O’Neale had outscored opponents by 178 points this year entering Wednesday night, which is far and away the best mark in the NBA.
The closest lineup to the Jazz’s starting five is the Denver Nuggets’ starters, a group which had outscored opponents by 152 points this season entering Wednesday. Behind them is the Miami Heat’s starting lineup.
Another notable statistic revealed by Haberstroh in his video concerned Utah’s outside shooting. The Jazz’s starting lineup entered Wednesday night making 43.4% of its 3-pointers while on the floor together, which is almost identical to Stephen Curry’s career rate.
It is no surprise given those statistics, says Haberstroh, that the Jazz have won 18 of their last 20 games, given the sheer dominance of their starters.
Other links
- 2020 NBA trade deadline primer: Utah Jazz (SLAM)
- NBA Power Rankings: Milwaukee on top, Jazz pass Lakers for second (NBCSports)
- Midseason report card for Ed Davis (The J Notes)
And finally …
In a departure from Jazz news, Utah Utes’ sophomore forward Timmy Allen is getting some well deserved recognition.
In the latest edition of the March Madness 365 podcast, host Andy Katz — a digital reporter, analyst and host for NCAA March Madness — singled out Allen — the Utes’ leading scorer —and labeled him as the seventh-best sophomore in the country this year.