NBA Power Rankings: Rudy Gobert leads Utah Jazz up the charts

The Utah Jazz may have had their 10-game winning streak ended on Thursday, but they still moved up three spots in the NBA Power Rankings entering Week 14.

If Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz keeps playing this way, it’s going to be awfully hard to keep him out of next month’s NBA All-Star Game, but for the time being The French Rejection seems content to continue to lead the Jazz into the upper echelon of the NBA.

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Even with their loss in overtime Thursday night at New Orleans, the Jazz were the big movers up in the NBA Power Rankings entering Week 14, climbing three spots to No. 7. They passed the free-falling Houston Rockets on the way. Houston dipped three spots to No. 10 after an 0-3 week.

It’s Gobert who has been leading the way in Utah’s latest surge. While Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic have done the scoring, Gobert has been the linchpin at the defensive end and has gotten some attention for setting a few screens.

The Jazz have had to make some adjustments on the fly during this recent hot spell. Point guard Mike Conley has been sidelined for all but two games as Utah has put up a 16-2 record since Dec. 11. They released Jeff Green on Dec. 24, one day after acquiring Jordan Clarkson from the Cleveland Cavaliers on for former lottery pick Dante Exum and two second-round picks.

Clarkson has filled a hole on the second unit, averaging 15.4 points per game off the bench since his arrival in Salt Lake City, while the Jazz have gone 11-1 over that stretch.

Utah may have some decisions to make when Conley is healthy enough to play. While he’s been out, Mitchell has taken over the point guard duties, with Joe Ingles — who struggled in the sixth man role early this season — has been thriving since rejoining the starting unit.

Ingles is averaging 14.0 points in 22 starts this season after averaging just 7.6 points in 20 appearances as a reserve, with the difference in playing time being only 4.9 minutes a game — which seems like a short amount of time to account for nearly 6½ extra points a night.

Ingles’ shooting splits as a reserve were .362/.312/.750. As a starter, he is at .502/.489/.833, while his assist average has shot up from 3.5 to 6.1 per game.

As a team, Utah has the second-best net rating in the NBA since Dec. 11, a robust plus-10.4 points per 100 possessions. The Jazz have the No. 1 offense in the NBA over that span, averaging 119.2 points per 100 possessions, while they are 11th defensively at 108.8.

Of course, there could be some competition for All-Star reserve berths, as anyone from the Jazz will have to be selected by the Western Conference coaches as a reserve.

Gobert doesn’t appear in the top 10 frontcourt players in the latest fan voting results and Mitchell is only seventh among Western Conference guards — well behind leaders Luka Doncic and James Harden and also trailing Lakers reserve Alex Caruso and Golden State’s Stephen Curry, who has played all of four games this season. Bogdanovic is similarly nowhere to be found in the voting.

During the 16-2 stretch, Gobert is putting up 16.4 points on just 9.4 shots per game, shooting 67.6 percent from the floor, while grabbing 15.6 rebounds, blocking 2.2 shots and dishing 2.0 assists per game. Mitchell, in 17 games during that span, is at 24.7 points, 5.3 assists and 3.6 boards, while Bogdanovic is scoring 22.2 points per game.

Utah hasn’t advanced past the second round of the playoffs since reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2007 as a No. 4 seed (helped by eighth-seeded Golden State upsetting No. 1 seed Dallas in the first round). Over the last three seasons, the Jazz have gone out in the second round in 2017 and 2018 and bowed in Round 1 last season.

Only 13-11 when they began this run, the Jazz are solidly in the top four in the West at 29-13. That leaves them currently fourth, but just a half-game back of the Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers. They are two games ahead of the Mavericks and 2½ up on the Rockets.

With six teams sporting winning percentages of .630 or better, the West is once again shaping up to be a bloodbath down the stretch, with only three games currently separating second and sixth place.

Let’s begin this week’s countdown.

Last week: Lost at Brooklyn 108-86, beat Phoenix 123-110, won at San Antonio 121-120, lost to Detroit 136-103

This week: Monday vs. Toronto, Wednesday vs. Clippers, Friday at Oklahoma City

Considering the Atlanta Hawks got run over by the Detroit Pistons, who are 11 games under .500, on Saturday night, next week against the Raptors, Clippers and at Oklahoma City could be daunting. Last week was just weird — two blowout losses to sub-.500 teams, a solid win over the Suns and the team’s first win at San Antonio since 1997.

John Collins appears to be settling in a bit, posting a pair of double-doubles on the week while averaging 17.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 27.8 minutes per game, while shooting 48.2 percent overall and hitting 5-of-17 from 3-point range.

Collins had 22 points, 10 boards and three blocks in the win over the Suns on Tuesday, only his third 20-plus point game since he came back Dec. 23 from a 25-game suspension.