Jazz C Rudy Gobert Throws Down Monster Dunk Over Trail Blazers Defender
Mar 9, 2022, 8:53 PM
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert threw down a one-handed monster dunk against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.
Danuel House Jr. went into the paint when he found Rudy Gobert in the paint, who turned around and threw down a monster left-handed slam dunk. That gave the Jazz a 21-8 lead over the Trail Blazers with three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Jazz held a 33-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. 10 players appeared in the opening quarter for the Jazz and all but one scored. Bojan Bogdanovic led the way with seven points. Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Royce O’Neale each had five points.
🆙 & OVER#TakeNote | @rudygobert27 pic.twitter.com/ANzOm8xRLz
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 10, 2022
With 18 games left to play, and the seventh most difficult schedule remaining in the NBA, the next three games against non-playoff opponents will be critical to the Jazz seeding at the end of the regular season.
The Jazz open the stretch against the dreary Trail Blazers, before traveling to face the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, then returning to host the Sacramento Kings on Saturday in a quick turnaround.
After this lighter three-game stretch, 10 of the Jazz’s final 15 games will come against teams currently in the top eight of their conference, have of which will be played on the road.
As it stands, the Jazz own the fourth seed in the Western Conference, 3.0 games back of the third-seeded Golden State Warriors, and 0.5 games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks.
The Trail Blazers made the difficult decision to begin a retooling around All-Star guard Damian Lillard at the trade deadline, and have been one of the worst teams in the NBA since the All-Star break.
Portland traded Robert Covington and Norman Powell to the Los Angeles Clippers and sent CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for more roster flexibility this summer.
Over their last five games, the Trail Blazers have gone winless, and have been outscored by an average of 31.2 points per game.
The Jazz are 2-0 this season against Portland with an average win margin of 18.5 points.
The Jazz and Trail Blazers can be heard on KSL NewsRadio and The Zone Sports Network. The game is also televised on ESPN, AT&T SportsNet, and FuboTV.