SALT LAKE CITY – Joe Ingles has a theory why Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert’s plus / minus numbers were so ridiculous in the 112-89 Utah Jazz win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday at the Toyota Center.
“I think it’s harder to play when I’m out,” Ingles said. “They told me they try to get the plus / minus when I’m out, so I look bad, which is incredibly selfish for our boys.”
Game with plus / minus game is, without a doubt, an unstable statistic. But sometimes the numbers are so high that it’s hard to ignore. That’s what happened Wednesday in Utah’s easy victory over the Rockets.
Gobert played 26 minutes and had a plus-44. Conley played 25 minutes and had a plus-46.
Jazz (44-15) launched the Conley-Gobert combo all season and provoked opponents. Gobert leads the league in plus-minus in plus-611, and Conley is second in plus-516. This discrepancy is due to the fact that Conley lost some time due to an injury – but for the most part the tandem is tied together. They go out together and they go out together.
So what was the secret to this success?
“Well, start with the fact that they’re both very good players,” said jazz coach Quin Snyder. “And I think one of the things, going back to last year, is that it takes time for the boys to find synergy in the game.”
Conley and Gobert figured out how to play with each other. They spent time in off-season training as a duo to block each other’s movements and timing.
“I think we learned each other’s games so well in the time we had in the last year and a half,” said Conley, who had 11 points and 13 assists in the victory in Utah.
Gobert finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds.
Conley and Gobert pushed Jazz to a 9-point lead in the first six minutes before they both headed for the bench. When they returned, the lead dropped to 2. At the next break, five minutes later, Utah’s lead rose to 12 again.
That’s how the first half went: if Conley and Gobert hadn’t been in the game, the Rockets looked like they had a chance to punch. If they were, they were the curtains.
“It obviously shows the impact these guys have on the game,” said Ingles, who had 21 points, six rebounds and four assists – but only a fragile plus of 15. “I don’t know if it’s a useless statistic. or not – that means the Twitter world has a conversation. “
Gobert and Conley are very good players, yes, but Wednesday’s “ridiculously high” plus / minus could also have been quite predictable.
Snyder staggered his rotations all season, which means Conley and Gobert leave before the middle of the first quarter and then return near the end of the quarter. They take another four minutes to breathe in the second quarter and then return to close the half. It’s more or less the same in the second half. This means that it faces many banking units, especially at the end of the first and third quarters.
Did the famous 10-0 runs of Jazz continue steadily this season? These often happen as Gobert and Conley blitz the second unit.
It’s no secret, rockets are not very good. They have won 15 games this season because they have changed several major trades, faced numerous injuries and just had a player attacked outside a club early Monday morning.
It hasn’t been a great season, to say the least.
Their starting lineup on Wednesday of Jae’Sean Tate, Kelly Olynyk, Christian Wood, Armoni Brooks and John Wall consists of several players who would not have a place in the teams in battle. Or in other words: it is a slightly glorified bench unit.
So Conley and Gobert raised huge numbers against her shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise (and maybe even a concern, because those bands won’t be playing as much in the postseason).
That being said, actually seeing plus-44 and plus-46 on a boxing score – especially in such short minutes – is undoubtedly impressive.
“I feel a little more comfortable on offense and defensively, honestly, being able to offer something more for this purpose, I think (Rudy) likes him a lot and makes him go on the offensive ends and makes him run harder.” said Conley. ” It makes him put harder screens and run, knowing I want to make a piece, I look for him every time I go down and try to throw a lobe. … He really feeds on the unselfish nature we have together. “
Although Ingles would claim – at least jokingly – that everything is selfish in the end.
“I couldn’t care less about mine, but if he talked about trying to keep others going, that’s really selfish.”