3 studs and 1 dud from blowout Utah Jazz win vs Warriors

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Utah Jazz center Hassan Whiteside (Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports)

Utah Jazz stud: Hassan Whiteside

The Utah Jazz miss Rudy Gobert. That’s guaranteed to remain true for as long as the Stifle Tower remains absent. Hassan Whiteside’s presence at least continues to dull the pain.

We almost can’t talk about his performance last night without first bringing up Udoka Azubuike. He actually started at the 5, and he delivered, finishing with 11 points on 5/5 shooting and 5 rebounds in just 19 minutes.

We mention Azubuike by way of mentioning that Whiteside played off the bench last night. Plenty of veterans would balk at that possibility. Whiteside has long had the reputation as the type of player who might.

Last night, he just played so well that Quin Snyder was forced to keep him on the floor instead.

Whiteside was the textbook definition of a beast in this contest. He finished with 9 points, 17 rebounds and 7 blocks in 29 minutes. That last figure is not a typo. Whiteside channelled his inner Mark Eaton in this contest.

The Warriors finished this game shooting 36% from the field. It wasn’t outside shooting that led to their lowest field goal percentage of the season, as they hit a solid 37% of their outside looks. They could not get anything inside the paint.

Whiteside made sure of it. His brand of rim protection is generally more explosive, and less controlled than Gobert’s. Last night, the veteran big man looked like Gobert with a vertical leap.

Whiteside is, of course, no threat to the 3x Defensive Player of the Year’s place in the pecking order. As soon as Gobert returns, the starting position is his. Nonetheless, as far as insurance policies go, the Jazz couldn’t do much better than Hassan Whiteside.

Next: Another stud