Will Hardy, Jusuf Nurkic
Admittedly, this Utah Jazz season has been a very confusing one to follow. Some nights, they look like they can beat any team in the league, and knock off a contender. But then on others, they may come out and lose by 40, or struggle to do much on either end of the floor.
Two knights after surprisingly knocking off the Minnesota Timberwolves, they followed it up with a close battle against the San Antonio Spurs.
After the Minnesota game, big man Jusuf Nurkic took to social media to troll NBA account @SixRingsOfSteel, who normally posts all about different NBA discourse.
The tweet in question was mentioning how surprising the triple-double was, which may have been interpreted by Nurkic as a slight. Nevertheless, Utah of course, managed a win here.
The very next time out, against the Spurs (last night), he did it. Again. Back-to-back triple-doubles for the Utah Jazz big man.
Jusuf Nurkic: Triple-Double Machine
Prior to the last two Jazz games, Jusuf Nurkic had just one triple-double in his career. To find the one he posted before these two, you’d have to go all the way back to 2019, pre-injury, when he was shining for the Portland Trail Blazers.
And now of course, he’s suddenly one of the hottest bigs in the league. Playing through the big man on offense has had its perks, leading to Utah being one of the most efficient offenses in the league.
This second triple-double last night, may have been even more impressive than the first. He finished with 16-18-10 in the first one, and then posted 17-11-14 last night, increasing both his scoring and assist numbers.
The Bosnian big man had been collecting a bunch of DNP-CD’s over the previous two weeks before Will Hardy opted to finally drop him back in the lineup three games back. The fact that the Hornets, who still don’t have their starting center of the future, moved him solely for a scoring guard remains a surprise.
Not a knock on Collin Sexton, but the Hornets have plenty of guards on their roster. They still struggle to get these kinds of contributions at the big man position.
Nurkic has been proving people wrong from the start of this season, and it doesn’t appear he’ll be slowing down any time soon.
Utah Jazz Looking to Remain Competitive
It is not about the wins and losses for the Utah Jazz this year, as has been the case over the last four years. As soon as they traded Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert in the summer of 2022, it was clear they were entering another phase.
Winning has not been the MO, but playing competitive ball and putting together picks to field a young, hungry team of the future has. Lauri Markkanen was an instant All-Star, and they have had some draft hits in guys like Keyonte George and Walker Kessler (who should be back for the start of next season).
In the game where Jusuf Nurkic had his first triple-double, George dropped 43 points. He is one of three guys on the team to do as much this season.
Playing contenders to the final whistle is something this team has been able to do surprisingly well. Ignoring their 15-30 record, it’s worth watching the Jazz most every night.
The defense has work to do, but the offense is scoring at will. And Jusuf Nurkic is a triple-double machine, after all.
Never know when he’ll have another. Maybe… tonight!