Utah Jazz: Big men have been leading the way lately

The Utah Jazz have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA in the second half of the regular season, with their big men leading the way lately.

With two weeks remaining in the 2018-19 NBA regular season, the Utah Jazz have continued their second-half surge that has placed them in the middle of the Western Conference playoff picture.

Thanks to an impressive half that Utah has put together in the latter part of the year, the Jazz enter Wednesday’s slate of NBA games as the No. 6 seed in the West standings with a record of 44-30 overall.

There have been many factors that have led Utah to going from being in the bottom half of the conference standings early in the season to now one of the hottest teams in the league and right in the heart of the postseason picture.

Things such as the Jazz continuing to remain healthy for the most part in the second half of the season and Donovan Mitchell taking his game to another level towards the end of the year have certainly contributed to their climb up the standings.

But perhaps the biggest thing that has led the way for Utah lately has come in the paint, with the performance of Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors standing out the most.

The two big men have put together stellar campaigns so far this season, but recently, they’ve cranked it up a notch.

Gobert is enjoying a career-best year in his sixth season in the league. While appearing in all 74 games (which has been a really good sign for Utah that he’s been able to stay healthy), Gobert is averaging career-highs in points (15.6), rebounds (12.9) and assists per game (2.0), along with tallying 2.2 blocks and 0.8 steals per game.

In 31.6 minutes a night, Gobert is also shooting an impressive 66.6 percent from the field, which is best in the NBA.

Over the last 33 games, Gobert has averaged 16.6 points, 13.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.1 assists and 0.7 steals per contest, shooting 67.6 percent from the field and recording a plus/minus of +5.4.

For Favors, he has appeared in 73 of 74 games for the Jazz so far this year, proving to once again be a nice piece in the starting lineup and a good complementary piece in the paint next to Gobert.

In his ninth season in the league, Favors is averaging 11.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 assists in 23.4 minutes per game while shooting 58.2 percent from the field.

During the second half of the 2018-19 NBA campaign, Favors has taken things to another level in the paint for Utah. He has appeared in all 33 games for the Jazz after the midway point in the schedule, averaging 12.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 1.4 assists and 0.7 steals per game. He is shooting 57.9 percent from the field, while tallying a plus/minus of +6.1.

The Jazz have continued to put together a nice stretch in the second half of the season, one that will likely lead them back to a favorable playoff spot once again when the NBA Playoffs kick off in a few weeks.

There have been multiple factors that have fed into Utah continuing to surge, but one key factor that is at the top of that list has been the impressive play of its big men in the paint.