The Utah Jazz continued their Jekyll and Hyde season last night by following up a few bad losses with a dominating victory over the Sacrament Kings. The Jazz won every quarter and won going away 133-112. It was their most impressive performance this season, so let’s jump in and analyze it a little closer. I’ll discuss a few observations, 2 questions, and 1 prediction as a recap to the Sunday night game in Sacramento.

3 Observations

1. Quin Snyder changed the starting lineup, and it worked.

The Utah Jazz starting lineup has been an issue all season. They consistently find themselves in early holes and can’t dig themselves out. With the injury to Donovan Mitchell, coach Quin Snyder had to make some starting lineup changes. Royce O’Neale came in to replace Mitchell, but Snyder wasn’t done there. He also decided to start Jae Crowder over Derrick Favors for the first time this season. In case you missed it, this is something I advocated for just 1 week ago right here.

Snyder was quoted to making the change due to matchup concerns and the Kings stretch 4 Nemanja Bjelica. The change was certainly effective tonight, as the Jazz took a 4 point lead into the 2nd quarter. Tony Jones of The Athletic tweeted that Favors could read the tea leaves and knew this change was likely to happen at some point. He still played his typical 24 minutes, but when they came allowed both him and the rest of the Jazz to be more effective offensively. Which brings us to our 2nd observation.

2. Ricky Rubio has his best game of the season.

When Ricky Rubio is playing his best game, the Utah Jazz are one of the best teams in the league. The problem is that Rubio has rarely played his best basketball this season. He put together a great performance last night, scoring 27 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists. He shot 69% from the field and was 2/3 from downtown.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but he played significantly better with Jae Crowder at the starting PF spot instead of another non-shooter in Derrick Favors. It felt like Rubio had more room to work with and was much more effective with the ball. He looked more comfortable and confident tonight, and I hope he can carry that into tonight’s matchup against the Indiana Pacers.

3. Raul Neto provides great minutes off the bench

Raul Neto hasn’t seen much time this year due to some early injuries. He’s dealing with a right hamstring issue that’s held him to just over 10 minutes on the season prior to last night’s game. He came in and gave a great 19 minutes in the victory over the Kings and reminded everyone why he was resigned this summer. He was only 2/6 from the floor, but those 6 shots got him 9 points. More importantly, in just 19 minutes he dished out 5 dimes and gave the Jazz some great ball movement off the bench. Utah’s depth hasn’t lived up to their potential yet this season. Maybe Raul Neto can start changing that narrative moving forward.

2 Questions

1. Will Quin Snyder keep Jae Crowder in the starting lineup?

After last night’s success, I can’t help but wonder if Crowder will become a constant in Utah’s starting lineup. Quin Snyder said he started him due to the matchup, but in today’s NBA that matchup concern will be nearly every single night. Derrick Favors is an NBA starter. The problem is that he should be a starting center. Rudy Gobert isn’t going anywhere, so that leaves Snyder precarious situation. Personally I’d like to see last night’s change become more permanent. Even with sophomore star Donovan Mitchell sidelined to injury, the Jazz had their highest offensive output of 133 points. How will Quin Snyder evaluate the power forward position and what will he do in Utah’s upcoming games? For example, the Jazz play the Pacers tonight who start Thaddeus Young at PF. Certainly Crowder is the better matchup there as well right?

2. What happened to Royce O’Neale?

Last year Royce O’Neale joined Joe Ingles school of coming out of no where to have a huge impact on the Jazz. He looked like yet another diamond in the rough that Dennis Lindsey found and Quin Snyder coached up. He played great defense and shot well enough from 3 to spread the floor. Utah was excited in what they had in the undrafted rookie. This season has been a completely different story. He’s struggled with his shot, down to 26% from 3 after last night. He’s also fouling at a ridiculous rate of 4.3 per 36 minutes. He was given the start last night, but it was quite the dud. In only 15 minutes he went 1/5 from the field, scored just 2 points, and gave up 2 turnovers. Across the board his advanced statistics are worse than they were last season, which is not what you’d expect in a second year guard. Sometimes he is just trying to do too much and gets himself into trouble, evident from his turnover percentage of 21.4%. He needs to get back to his strengths of playing smart, tough defense and just hitting the shots that come to him.

1 Prediction

1. Jae Crowder won’t be in the starting lineup every night just yet, but it will happen soon.

The theme of my thoughts surrounded the starting lineup change, so I guess my prediction should as well. I think Quin Snyder will resist a permanent change in the starting lineup for now. I see him going back to what he’s become used to over the past 4 years in Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.  That being said, I think he’ll see that Crowder at the 4 and Favors as the primary backup C will serve his players and the team better. Eventually I think this is the season that the Jazz move away from a traditional big man duo. This might be a few months away, but every team in need of a starting center should watch the Utah Jazz closely between now and the February 8th trade deadline.