SALT LAKE CITY – Joe Ingles has a theory as to why Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert’s plus / minus numbers were so ridiculous in the Utah Jazz’s 112-89 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday at Toyota Center.
“I think they play harder when I’m out,” Ingles said. “They told me they’re trying to increase their plus / minus when I’m out so I look bad, which’s incredibly selfish for us guys.”
Game-by-game plus / minus is undoubtedly a fickle stat. But sometimes the numbers are so large that it’s hard to ignore. That’s what happened Wednesday in Utah’s easy victory over the Rockets.
Gobert played 26 minutes and he was plus-44. Conley played 25 minutes and he was plus-46.
The Jazz (44-15) expanded the Conley-Gobert combination throughout the season, igniting opponents. Gobert leads the league in plus-minus on plus-611 and Conley is second on plus-516. The inconsistency there is due to the fact that Conley missed a while because it was an injury – but the tandem was mostly tied up. They sub out together and they sub in together.
What, then, was the secret of that success?
“Well, it starts with the fact that they are both very good players,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “And I think one of the things, it’s time for guys to take time to play synergy when we go back to last year.”
Conley and Gobert figured out how to play with each other. They spent time in outdoor training as a duo to capture each other’s movements and timing.
“I think we learned each other’s games, so well in the time we’ve had the past year and a half,” said Conley, who scored 11 points and 13 assists in Utah’s knockout victory.
Gobert finishes with 19 points and 18 rebounds.
Conley and Gobert raised the Jazz to a 9-point lead in the first six minutes before they both went to the bench. When they returned, the lead was down to 2. By their next break, five minutes later, Utah’s lead had grown to 12 again.
This is how the first half went: If Conley and Gobert were not in the game, the Rockets looked like they had a chance to hit. If it was, it was curtains.
“It obviously shows the impact the guys have on the game,” said Ingles, who had 21 points, six rebounds and four assists – but only a weak plus-15. “I do not know if it’s a pointless stat or not – that’s what the Twitter world should be talking about. But, I mean, if you were to say something like that to me and the number, it’s a pretty ridiculous high number, so it shows the impact those guys surely have. ‘
Gobert and Conley are very good players, yes, but Wednesday’s “ridiculously high” plus / minus was also quite predictable.
Snyder made his turn all season, meaning Conley and Gobert go out before the halfway point of the first quarter and then return by the end of the quarter. They take another four-minute break 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 they will face many banking units, especially at the end of the first and third quarters.
The famous 10-0 runs that the Jazz are going through this season? This often happens as the second units of Gobert and Conley.
It’s no secret that the Rockets are not very good. They have won 15 games this season as they have switched several times, dealt many injuries and assaulted a player just outside a club on Monday morning.
It was, to say the least, not a great season.
Their starting lineup on Wednesday of Jae’Sean Tate, Kelly Olynyk, Christian Wood, Armoni Brooks and John Wall consists of several players who will not have a rotation point in fighting teams. Or in other terms: it is a slightly glorified banking unit.
So Conley and Gobert should have drawn big numbers against it, not been too much of a surprise (and maybe even a concern, as the series will not be played as much in the post-season).
That being said, it’s undoubtedly impressive to see plus-44 and plus-46 on a box – especially in such short minutes.
“With me a little more comfortable in attack, and defensively, honestly, I can give it a little more, I think (Rudy) enjoys it a lot and it makes him take offense and it makes him run harder,” he said. Conley said. “Let him set up harder screens and roll, knowing I want to make a play. I look for him every time I come down and throw a lobe. … He just feeds well of the unselfish nature we have together. has. ‘
Even if Ingles would argue – at least funny – that it is ultimately out of selfishness.
“I could not care less about mine, but if they would talk to try to maintain mine and that’s really selfish of them.”