The Jazz just won a game in which both Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were well off their best, and their defense was pretty poor. In any of the previous seasons of this era, that’s a surefire recipe for disaster. And instead, the Jazz pulled out a win against a pretty dangerous New Orleans Pelicans team.
The first key? Bojan Bogdanovic, who ended up with the remarkable 35 point, 0 assist, 0 rebound, 0 steal, 0 block line — on 11-21 shooting and adding 10 free throws. The Jazz didn’t have anyone who could do anything like that.